Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz acknowledged that Israeli forces forcibly displaced around 2,000 Palestinians from their homes in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, barring residents from returning until alleged “Hamas infrastructure” is dismantled, according to TRT World.

Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the operation, which centred on the Ein Deir Baha and Farsh al-Hawa neighbourhoods and targeted homes, businesses, industrial sites and infrastructure, according to the BBC. The operation was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, in response to the killing of two Israeli soldiers by two Palestinian gunmen in an attack on a checkpoint, according to the BBC.