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Israeli forces are maintaining a siege on the occupied West Bank city of Hebron for a tenth consecutive day, with the city’s mayor warning of mounting economic devastation and Palestinian families fearing the military could soon extend its operations further into the area.
The lockdown was imposed after an attack on October 23 near Hebron in which two Israeli soldiers were killed. Since then, according to the local municipality, more than 3,300 Palestinians have been displaced or otherwise affected.
Mayor Yousef al-Jabari told Al Jazeera on Saturday that daily economic losses were estimated to exceed 12 million shekels — roughly $3.8 million — with damage to infrastructure valued at more than $1.9 million and losses in the health and environmental sectors at approximately $160,000. Israeli forces have demolished 15 homes and other structures and forced 327 businesses to close, he said. Around 80,000 students have been unable to attend school for ten days.
Al-Jabari described the siege as “collective punishment,” noting that Hebron accounts for approximately 40 percent of the Palestinian economy.
Arrests and school raids
Israeli arrests of Palestinians continued on Sunday across Hebron and other cities in the occupied West Bank. In Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, Israeli forces arrested ten Palestinian teachers and seized their vehicle, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Video shared by Palestinian media and verified by Al Jazeera showed the Israeli military raiding a school operated by the United Nations in the Shufat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.
Record settler attacks in October
The United Nations humanitarian office OCHA reported, via Wafa, that Israeli settlers carried out 397 attacks on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in October — the highest monthly figure recorded since monitoring began in 2006. Between October 20 and 26 alone, settler attacks targeted 49 Palestinian communities, predominantly while Palestinians were harvesting olives.
Nine children were among 57 Palestinians injured by settlers and Israeli forces during that period: 34 were hurt by military gunfire and physical assaults, and 23 in settler attacks.
Since the start of 2015, Israeli authorities have issued 9,518 demolition or stop-work notices against Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian government body. It said 344 of those notices were issued in the first nine months of this year.