'Ghost City' in Hebron: Life Trapped Behind Israel's Iron Gates and Checkpoints

Hebron, Occupied West Bank – Badr al-Tamimi, 60, lives in the Old City of Hebron, where Israeli checkpoints, iron gates and street closures turn the simplest tasks into an exhausting daily ordeal for Palestinian residents.

The situation goes beyond restricted movement. Israel has created a "ghost city" in parts of Hebron, leaving residents feeling they are being driven from the place they call home. This is most visible in the area known as H2, where Israel holds full control and Palestinians must submit to military orders.

Days ago, Israeli authorities installed three iron gates along a 200-metre stretch of the Old City of Hebron – an area of just 0.2 dunams (200 square metres) – as part of what appears to be a clear effort to curb Palestinian freedom of movement in the city.

Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jabari told Al Jazeera that one gate was erected on al-Zahid Street, the only route by which vehicles can reach the entrance to the Old City. A second was placed at the top of al-Shalala Street, which leads to shops connecting to the Bab al-Zawiya area in the city centre. A third stands on another section of al-Shalala Street, a route pedestrians use to reach the shopping district.

The gates are part of a broad network of movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank, but Hebron – home to a heavy settler presence – endures more than most other Palestinian cities.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 40 percent of the 89 checkpoints in the West Bank and 11 percent of the 925 total movement obstacles are located in Hebron's H2 area, which is under tight Israeli control.

Some 7,000 Palestinians in the Hebron area, where hundreds of settlers live, are affected by the latest movement restrictions. Since October 2023, when the war in Gaza began, only Palestinians holding special identification numbers are permitted to enter the area. Checkpoints at its entrances generally open only from 7am to 8pm.

Al-Tamimi lives in the al-Sheikh neighbourhood, next to the famous Ibrahimi Mosque, and owns a shop in the Old City.

Palestinians can be held for hours at checkpoints, and the mood of a soldier on duty can determine how long their journey takes. Worshippers seeking to reach the Ibrahimi Mosque can be detained by soldiers for hours.

"They may allow a limited number of people in while others are forced to wait, and residents' movement stalls during raids, Jewish holidays and related security measures," al-Tamimi said.

Repeated lockdowns have paralysed economic activity in Hebron, making it increasingly hard for shops and businesses to operate.

"Our presence in the Old City is a matter of resilience, not because the conditions for an economic life are there," al-Tamimi said.

Even after Israel occupied the city in 1967, Hebron was a bustling city with thriving shops and markets. Residents could move more freely between neighbourhoods, which supported the city's economic life.

Everything changed in 1994, the year of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, when an American-Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinian worshippers.

Since then, the geography of the Old City has changed, becoming severed from its surroundings, according to al-Tamimi.

He pointed to Shuhada Street, once a vital artery for the city's transport and commerce before street closures and restrictions transformed the reality of the area.

"They committed a crime, yet they continue to punish us for it," he said.

In 1997, the Hebron Protocol was signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel, dividing the city into two areas: H1, under relatively Palestinian administration, and H2 – which includes the Old City, the Ibrahimi Mosque and the illegal settlements – which remained under Israeli security control.

Issa Amro, coordinator of the group Youth Against Settlements, said Israeli prohibitions intensified with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, when Hebron became a focal point of the uprising.

During that period, large areas of the city were sealed off, shops were forced to close, and residents were frequently confined to their homes or neighbourhoods.

Since the war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, the number of checkpoints has risen to 32, while other obstacles hindering Palestinian movement now exceed 130.

"Closed areas", designated by Israeli authorities as military zones with limited Palestinian access, have expanded around the Ibrahimi Mosque and the illegal settlements in the city centre.

"The movement restrictions are effectively holding residents hostage," Amro said.

Mayor al-Jabari said about 10,000 Palestinians in the Old City and the surrounding closed areas are affected by the measures.

Some parts of Hebron cannot be reached by vehicle, and Palestinian residents face curfews two or three days a week, often at weekends.

He believes the restrictions are meant to obstruct Palestinians' ability to return to their homes and to strangle life in parts of Hebron.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have backed settler expansion in the area, creating a new stifling reality for Palestinians in the city.

Al-Jabari suggested Israel's current government may be doing this to court settlers ahead of elections this month.

Control of Hebron, the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque is a key issue for settlers, and politicians from their camp hold important posts in the Israeli government.

This comes alongside a coordinated effort by Israeli authorities to entrench the settler presence in and around the city.

"The seizure of buildings and land, along with the installation of gates, is a continuation of Israeli policies that have existed for decades," al-Jabari said.

"These policies include the closure of Shuhada Street and the shutting of more than 500 shops, as well as the establishment of settlement outposts and military positions in the Old City."

He has witnessed further restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement over the past month, measures certain to please settlers.

The Hebron municipality has responded by filing petitions with Israeli courts, despite its scepticism about the fairness of the judiciary.

As the measures continue, Palestinian life grows worse, turning work, daily living and education into a daily struggle.

Israel cites the security situation as a pretext for erecting more checkpoints and iron gates in Hebron, but no such restrictions apply to settlers.

Since 2015, Israel has limited the number of Palestinian residents in the closed areas allowed to pass through these checkpoints. Students and teachers are routinely searched or temporarily detained by Israeli soldiers.

Ayat al-Jabari, a 40-year-old science teacher, worked for a year at Qurtuba School, near the closed Shuhada Street, before moving to her current post at Al-Fayha School, close to the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Although reaching Qurtuba School from her home should have taken five minutes, it often took an hour.

On the anxious morning route past a nearby cemetery, often in darkness during the winter months, settlers and soldiers would often appear in the cemetery to block Palestinians' path or insult them.

"Every day, I am forced to take a long route and cross the cemetery to avoid passing through the checkpoint, because I do not have a [special ID] number. Even those who have numbers are sometimes forced to take this route to escape the soldiers' mood," she said.

After moving to Al-Fayha School, al-Jabari hoped her commute would improve, but the situation is no better than before.

"Whenever the Jewish holidays come, these schools close because all the students live in areas under full lockdown, to the point that residents are even barred from opening the doors of their homes," she said.