IDF demolishes Hebron homes of two gunmen who killed two soldiers a week earlier

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday demolished the homes of the two Palestinian gunmen who killed two Israeli soldiers in a shooting attack in the Hebron area a week earlier. The Times of Israel reported that the military confirmed the operation and released footage showing one of the two houses being destroyed with explosives. Associated Press photographs dated October 30, 2026 show smoke, dust and debris rising over the city as the buildings came down.

The first word of the demolitions came from Palestinian media. An earlier Times of Israel liveblog entry cited Palestinian outlets and footage they published, noting at that point that the army had not yet commented. Hebrew-language channels including N12 and Ynet also reported that the army had razed the attackers' homes.

The attack on October 23

According to The Times of Israel, the gunmen, named as Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba, both residents of Hebron, opened fire on soldiers at a checkpoint. They killed Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman, a squad commander, as well as Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem. Three more soldiers were lightly to moderately hurt. The paper reported that both attackers were killed on the spot after a gunfight with troops that lasted about 20 minutes.

The two soldiers who died belonged to the 775th "Ari" Battalion, part of the Search and Rescue Brigade of the Home Front Command. The Home Front Command is the branch of the IDF responsible for civil defence, including rescue work in disasters and after attacks on population centres. "Ari" is Hebrew for lion. The three wounded soldiers came from the same battalion.

Hebrew outlets, and the IDF's own post on X, refer to the site of the attack as Yehuda Junction (Judah Junction), while The Times of Israel describes it as a checkpoint in the city of Hebron.

Who carried out the demolition

In its statement, quoted in Hebrew in the Times of Israel liveblog, the army said troops and engineers from Yahalom operated in Hebron earlier in the day. Yahalom is the IDF's special combat engineering unit, whose work includes handling explosives and demolitions. The forces acted under the command of the Judea Brigade and Division 98, according to the statement, which opened by noting that only a week had passed since the attack.

The Hebrew news channel Abu Ali Express reported that on Friday morning soldiers were carrying explosives into one of the houses, located in the Ein Dir Bacha neighbourhood of Hebron, ahead of blowing it up later that day.

Hebron and the demolition policy

Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, the territory Israel captured in the Six Day War and which Palestinians seek for a future state. Israeli forces operate in and around the city, which is also home to Israeli settler communities.

Demolishing the family homes of Palestinians who carried out deadly attacks is a long-standing Israeli practice. Israeli officials describe it as a deterrent, while Palestinians and human rights groups have criticised it as collective punishment of relatives. The reports on this demolition do not address that debate.

Where the reports differ

The accounts do not fully agree on the details. The first Times of Israel liveblog entry spoke of a single home belonging to the two gunmen, while the later reports and the military's own confirmation refer to two homes. The names also vary: The Times of Israel identifies the attackers as Mohammad and Firas Jaaba, but a post from the Palestinian outlet Quds News Network embedded in its liveblog refers to them in Arabic as Hamouda and Ahmad al-Jaaba, and Abu Ali Express names one of the houses as belonging to Hamouda al-Jaaba. The reports do not explain the difference, which may reflect a nickname.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports says whether family members were living in the homes or where they will go, whether any legal challenge was filed before the demolition, or whether there were confrontations during the operation. The military released video of only one of the two demolitions. The reports also do not say whether the attackers were affiliated with any armed group.