After ten days of displacement, Palestinian families return to their homes in Hebron

Palestinian families in the al-Jalada neighbourhood of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, have begun returning to their homes after ten days of displacement. After Israeli forces withdrew, residents came back on Monday morning (November 2) and started tidying houses that had been damaged and ransacked.

Israeli forces took over the al-Jalada neighbourhood on October 24, a day after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers nearby. That day, the al-Natsha family were given only 20 minutes to leave; they could take only their money, gold and important documents, leaving behind most of their clothes, everyday belongings and family photographs.

Nour al-Natsha, a 35-year-old orthopaedic surgeon, knew there was a chance his home would not be in the best condition upon his return. After hearing that Israeli forces had withdrawn, he tentatively returned on Monday to check on the house. He found the doors wide open and the house turned upside down. Belongings were missing, as was his young daughter’s pet bird.

“When we entered the house, it was a mixture of emotions,” al-Natsha said. “You couldn’t tell whether you were happy to be back home or heartbroken by what had happened to it.”

On Sunday evening (November 1), families and neighbours gathered in the nearby Wadi al-Karm area, close to their homes, after reports emerged that the military operation had ended, and waited until around midnight. Seeing no signs of a withdrawal, they returned to their temporary accommodation, despite holding on to the hope of going home soon.

In the early hours of the morning, it was confirmed that the military had withdrawn. Al-Natsha headed towards the neighbourhood at around 6am, where he found several neighbours also making their way home. He waited for relatives to arrive before entering the area and inspecting the houses.

Al-Natsha was initially accompanied by his father and two brothers as they inspected the property, looking for suspicious objects or potential hazards after finding the doors open. Once they were satisfied that the house was safe, family members began cleaning and putting things back in order, removing belongings they feared might have been damaged or contaminated, in an effort to make the house habitable again and resume their daily lives.

But the family’s return was not without anxiety, particularly for al-Natsha’s four-year-old daughter, Ilya. Her biggest concern was the fate of her pet bird, “Natosh”, which she had been forced to leave inside the house. Al-Natsha has no idea where the bird is, whether it is dead, or whether the Israeli soldiers released it. Ilya, meanwhile, keeps asking about her pet.

The return of families to al-Jalada came after 10 days of military restrictions and evacuations affecting several neighbourhoods in Hebron. During the operation, hundreds of families were forced to leave their homes, while shops and institutions in the areas were closed.

According to previously released figures from the Hebron Governorate’s Support and Relief Committee, 537 families, comprising approximately 3,300 people, were displaced. With residents now returning, the extent of the damage to homes and belongings, and the lasting effects of the days spent away, remain part of the experience of families trying to rebuild their lives.

For 68-year-old Khaled Shawer, who also lives in the neighbourhood, the damage to homes and the debris and destruction left behind by the military operation could be dealt with. What mattered most was that residents had returned and could begin to regain a sense of stability.

“Everything can be replaced: the destruction, the damage, the dirt, everything,” Shawer said. “But the most important thing is that we have returned to our homes, our paradise on Earth, the place where we find our psychological and physical stability.”