UN rights chief: operation must end

The UN ethnic cleansing warning over Hebron came from human rights chief Volker Turk, who said the aggressive operation must end, describing homes and commercial property demolished and residents deprived of the ability to move freely. "Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law. Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing," he said.

According to Turk, the sweeping steps raise grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, which must end, while the lockdown confines many residents to their homes and immediate neighbourhoods. He added that declarations by senior Israeli government officials indicate the measures are punitive in nature and designed to instil fear, calling this unacceptable.

Guterres 'deeply alarmed' by West Bank actions

Speaking earlier in Cairo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply alarmed by Israeli actions in the West Bank. "We are seeing an increasingly coercive environment, with the spectre of ethnic cleansing looming ever larger. This must end," he warned, saying evictions are unrelenting with Palestinians driven from their lands and settler violence surging.

Guterres said there could be no durable peace in the Middle East without the realisation of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

The operation and the attack behind it

The Israeli operation followed a checkpoint attack near Hebron on Friday, when two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers. The gunmen were killed in a shootout with Israeli forces.

• •Israeli troops then entered the Ein Deir Baha neighbourhood, where the two assailants lived.
• •Residents there were ordered to pack up and leave their homes.

Scale of the displacement and next steps

Hebron's municipality said 3,189 people had been forced from their homes by the ongoing operation, while the UN put the figure at more than 3,000 displaced in the Palestinian territory's largest city.

• •The operation came just days before Tuesday's Israeli elections.
• •Israel was set to close all West Bank land crossings on election day.

Turk said those who have been displaced must be allowed to return home and that Israel must ensure compensation and reparation for unlawful evictions and demolitions.