Israeli army ends 11-day Hebron raid after looting and vandalising Palestinian homes
Fayha Shalash reports in Middle East Eye o 4 November 2026:
For 11 days, Abbas Mujahid imagined returning home. He had no idea when that might be. Israeli soldiers had forced him and his family of seven to leave the house in Hebron in the occupied West Bank last month. Their home is in the al-Jalda neighbourhood of Hebron, the focus of an Israeli military assault that began on 23 October and ended on Monday.
During the attack, hundreds of Palestinian families were displaced by Israeli forces. Major roads and streets were closed, the city’s entrances sealed, and a total blockade imposed. Commercial shops were raided, while industrial facilities were vandalised or demolished.
The assault caused extensive damage to residential neighbourhoods, businesses and infrastructure. Hebron now faces the daunting task of assessing the destruction, clearing debris and reviving an economy brought to a standstill by the blockade.
When Mujahid and his family finally returned, they found their home severely damaged and vandalised. “We found all the wooden doors, as well as the main iron door, torn off their hinges,” he told Middle East Eye. “The gypsum decorative elements were completely smashed, the light fixtures broken, and our clothes and belongings scattered all over the house.” According to Mujahid, soldiers had also left human excrement throughout the house. Window frames had been ripped out, apparently in acts of deliberate destruction.
During their displacement, Mujahid had tried to prepare his children for the possibility that their home, particularly their bedrooms, might be badly damaged. But nothing could spare them the shock of seeing the destruction first-hand. “I have begun bringing in workers to repair the house, its walls, and its doors, at a cost estimated in the tens of thousands of shekels. Yet, the very fact that we have returned outweighs any sense of the damage caused,” he said.
The economic toll has been equally severe. According to estimates by the Hebron Chamber of Commerce and Industry, direct losses exceeded 12 million shekels a day (around $3.8m). A total of 327 commercial and economic establishments were shut down, 15 facilities destroyed and around 1,350 people lost their livelihoods.
The humanitarian impact was also substantial. On 30 October, UNICEF reported, citing Hebron Municipality figures, that 483 families had been displaced by Israeli forces and restrictions on the city. They comprised 4,304 people, including 1,845 children.
Heavy losses
The military incursion came after a shooting by two Palestinians that killed two Israeli soldiers in Hebron. The two Palestinians were also killed in the fire exchange.