Israeli security forces evicted dozens of Jewish settlers from two homes in the heart of the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, a day after they had moved in.
Israeli security forces evicted dozens of Jewish settlers from two homes in the heart of the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, a day after they had moved in.
Dozens of settlers left the house on the morning, carrying their possessions and accompanied by the Israeli border police, an AFP photographer on the scene said. The police later welded the doors of the homes shut, the photographer said.
Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld confirmed 80 people had been removed from the homes, with the evacuation occurring without incident.
The buildings stand near a religious site known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque in the heart of the flashpoint southern West Bank city.
The families had moved in on Thursday after buying the homes from Palestinian families, the settlers said.
Ministers and members of Parliament from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party decried defence minister Moshe Yaalon’s refusal to sign off on the settlers’ occupation of the homes. Mr Yaalon said the settlers had not complied with law.
