The Hebron demolitions that flattened the Ein Deir Baha district came at a charged political moment. Israeli elections were due in four days, and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich travelled to the site of Friday's checkpoint attack outside the city to promise an immediate and ferocious response.

Leaders promised a ferocious response

The checkpoint attack on Friday was carried out by two gunmen. After a 20-minute gunfight, two Israeli soldiers were killed, three were injured, and both gunmen were killed.

At the site, Netanyahu said Israel would "act to destroy this place". Smotrich said he had ordered "the immediate demolition of a wide row of illegal Arab structures adjacent to the attack site", and called for "a comprehensive military campaign … exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon".

• •Elections were four days away when the two ministers made their pledges at the attack site

Smotrich filmed at the demolition line

Smotrich, standing for election for a smaller coalition party, had himself filmed wearing body armour in front of a Palestinian building being demolished.

What the demolition operation covered

By Saturday afternoon, the Hebron municipality estimated 35 hectares (86 acres) had been destroyed or marked for destruction in Ein Deir Baha, and about 1,500 people had been evicted from their homes. Ein Deir Baha was alleged to be the home district of the two gunmen.

• •The whole city of 250,000 people was sealed off by checkpoints at every point of entry
• •Videos from a resident showed every house over several blocks flattened and houses marked with a sprayed black cross
• •A residential building hung with Israeli flags was said by residents to be the commandeered home of a prominent Hebron family, used as a temporary military headquarters

Residents question the timing

A Hebron municipality spokesperson said about 300 families had been evicted; some stayed with friends and relatives while the municipality opened community halls and children's play areas as shelters.

Civil rights activist Issa Amro said his sister's family was among the hundreds driven from their homes, and that the families who left were not connected to Friday's attack.

"Our suffering is being turned into political material for Israel's elections, while innocent families pay the price," Amro said. In a telephone interview, he said it was unclear whether the operation was "only election propaganda" or a serious post-election plan.

The Israeli army was approached for comment on the operations and the videos of devastation. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Israeli plans to displace a further 2,500 people.