Israeli Troops Pull Out of Hebron, Ending 10-Day Siege

Israeli forces pulled out of Hebron on Monday, ending a 10-day siege that froze the southern occupied West Bank city, Governor Khaled Dudin announced. Palestinian security forces have taken full control of the area, he said, with authorities working to get residents back home safely.

Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari told Al Jazeera the municipality got the word at 6am local time (04:00 GMT). Within minutes, cars carrying displaced families rolled back into the city, residents congratulating each other on returning, according to Al Jazeera's Mohamed al-Atrash. For the first time in 10 days, kids headed to school and university students to campus, al-Jaabari said, after five universities sat closed.

The siege landed on October 23, days after two Palestinians shot dead two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others near the city. Israeli forces later killed both attackers. What started as an operation against the attackers' homes ballooned into a lockdown of the entire governorate, home to roughly 800,000 people, with checkpoints sealed and homes in Al-Jalda and Ein Deir Baha seized as military posts.

The human cost piled up fast. Some 537 families were pushed out at night and sheltered with relatives, while more than 3,300 Palestinians were displaced or otherwise affected, per the Hebron Governorate. Families told Al Jazeera they were given five minutes to grab medicine, phones and documents, and were promised displacement would last one to three days. It lasted 10. Some returning residents said money and belongings were gone.

The damage is heavy. Hebron Municipality said Israeli forces completely demolished 15 homes and structures, 327 shops shut and direct losses topped 12 million shekels ($3.8m) a day, according to Wafa. About 80,000 students in the city missed school, and some 262,000 across the governorate lost nine days of classes. Hebron holds 220 of the West Bank's 940 Israeli checkpoints and gates, and the closures hit 4,000 factories.

Inside one building used as a military post, al-Atrash found damaged furniture, ransacked rooms and food soldiers left behind. The Palestinian Civil Defence warned residents not to touch suspicious objects or enter damaged buildings before inspection. Municipal crews headed to Al-Jalda, Ein Deir Baha and Shu'bat al-Malh to assess the wreckage. 'Everything damaged we will rebuild,' al-Jaabari said. Israeli affairs expert Mohamed Helles told Al Jazeera the operation launched days before Israel's general election and was partly an attempt to score votes for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc, which won the most seats but fell short of a majority.