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More than 2,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes amid an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, with houses and commercial and industrial facilities also demolished, the city's mayor has said.

Yousef al-Jabari told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces had imposed a complete siege on Hebron and several neighbouring villages.

The Israeli military said it had arrested about 40 people, accusing them of incitement or affiliation with political factions.

It also said its forces were operating in about 40 villages and 400 locations across the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have intensified a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank's Hebron governorate, raiding neighbourhoods, sealing off areas and forcibly displacing Palestinian families, Al Jazeera reported, citing a report from the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Around 1,500 Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes in the Ein Deir Bahha and al-Jalda areas of Hebron, Wafa said, adding that another 2,500 residents could be displaced in the coming hours.

Israeli forces have also sealed all entrances to Hebron city, its refugee camps, towns and villages, while pursuing residents and their vehicles through the streets, according to the report.

Israeli forces have forcibly evicted Palestinian families from their homes in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron and converted the properties into military positions, Al Jazeera reported, citing a report from the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

According to Wafa, soldiers evicted members of the Azrael al-Natsheh family from their homes in the Khallet Manna area and turned the properties into a military outpost.

In the al-Zaytoun suburb, another family was forced to leave its home, which was subsequently converted into military barracks.

Wafa also reported that Israeli forces had evacuated several homes overlooking neighbouring areas and turned them into observation posts.

The evictions are taking place amid a large-scale Israeli military operation in Hebron. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the operation will involve house-to-house searches, demolitions and forced displacement.

Palestinian families in the Ein Deir Bahha and al-Jalda areas have also been ordered to leave their homes, according to the report.

Israeli military has conducted at least 15 raids across the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported.

The operations were conducted in Jenin and Nablus in the north, in Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Birzeit, and occupied East Jerusalem in the centre, and in Bethlehem in the south.

Israeli forces have fired a stun grenade at the journalists who were collecting information and documenting the bulldozing operation in Hebron of the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported.

Israeli PM Netanyahu said that the “big surprise” is in store for the Palestinian Authority, after he ordered a large-scale military operation following an attack on soldiers in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported.

“In this election, we have to stop a Palestinian state from being established,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s i24 News late on Friday.

“I’ll work to neutralise that threat using measures I think are better kept under wraps for now, so we can maintain the element of surprise,” he said. “And there’s another big surprise coming for the Palestinian Authority.”

“We can bring more countries into the Abraham Accords, and those countries won’t make the creation of a Palestinian state a condition, because they know we’re not going to accept that. And we’re talking about more than two countries.”

“We have changed the Middle East. I said we would make a change, and that’s what we have done,” he added.

The Israeli military forced around 1,200 Palestinians to leave their homes in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said on Saturday, a day after a Palestinian attack killed two Israeli soldiers.

The Palestinian Authority criticised the operation as a "collective punishment".

Yousef Zouhair Al-Jabari, the head of Hebron's municipality, said around 1,300 faced losing their homes in addition to the 1,200 already displaced.

Al-Jabari said the military had demolished shops, factories, homes, and roads in Hebron and that the response was disproportionate and unjustified.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he had ordered the demolition of buildings near a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank that wounded at least five people on Friday.

"Following the attack, I have ordered the immediate demolition of a wide row of illegal Arab structures adjacent to the attack site," he said. "The order will be carried out within the next hour and will take place throughout the afternoon hours."

The Israeli army said its forces had launched "counter-terrorism operations" and were raiding suspects' homes in the occupied West Bank on Friday following a shooting attack that wounded at least five people.

In a statement, the military said soldiers and border police "launched offensive counter-terrorism operations in the Hebron area, which has been placed under a cordon, and in additional areas. The soldiers are currently operating inside the residences of the terrorists and additional suspects".

At least six people have been injured in an exchange of fire between armed individuals and the Israeli military near the Telem settlement in the Hebron area, Al Jazeera reported.

The shooting targeted a reserve battalion affiliated with Israel’s Home Front Command and lasted for more than 20 minutes, prompting the deployment of military reinforcements to a checkpoint in the area, according to local reports.

Earlier, the Israeli military said two suspected attackers were killed after a shooting near Hebron.