Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin said on Monday a total of 488 families comprising 3,171 people had been displaced across the wider governorate, while Mayor Yousef al-Jabari told Al Jazeera that 3,043 of those forced from their homes are from within Hebron city limits alone.

Separately, the Israeli military continues a demolition campaign that has resulted in the destruction of residential buildings, factories and roads, while also blocking roads, raiding homes and assaulting Palestinians.

The crackdown has been in place since Friday, when two soldiers were killed in a shooting near the city. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified it by pledging an operation “unseen” since the 1967 war.

It comes amid increased tensions across the occupied West Bank as Israeli settlers and soldiers engage in violent pogroms. Attacks on olive harvesters have been rife as aggression has been on the rise before Israel’s general election on Tuesday, in which Netanyahu is seeking re-election.

According to municipal authorities in Hebron, the majority of the forcibly displaced Palestinians are women, children and elderly individuals.

Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, have systematically converted dozens of homes of the uprooted Palestinian families into military barracks and field interrogation centres.

“The measures taken in the city of Hebron are not of a single type, but rather have surpassed any idea of temporary evacuation or deportation,” said Noman Amr, a professor of contemporary history at al-Quds Open University, Dura branch in Hebron, as he explained the multifaceted nature of the displacement. “Evacuating homes falls into three categories: evacuation for demolition, evacuation for revenge and collective punishment, and evacuation for military uses, where they have turned some homes into military barracks.”

Amr also highlighted the psychological warfare at play. “This aggressive, collective punitive, terrorist, racist behaviour aims to create a state of panic, fear and instability for the Palestinian society,” he said, quoting displaced residents who said they heard soldiers make comments such as, “You will return to your homes on Judgement Day”.

The ultimate goal, Amr added, is “to impose a new reality” that can be summarised “in one sentence: ‘more land, fewer Arabs'”.