Adora, Har Hevron

Adora is a Jewish community in the southern Hebron Hills.[1][2] It lies west of Hebron.[4] The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics' 2022 locality file assigns it locality code 3759 and places it within the Hebron subdistrict of Judea and Samaria, under the jurisdiction of the Har Hebron Regional Council.[3]

A 2004 reference table classifies Adora as a rural community represented in the Hebron Mountain Regional Council.[6] In March 2026, Adora was also listed among Har Hebron Regional Council localities permitted to open educational institutions, subject to the local authority's decision and the availability of a standard protected space.[7]

Reference sources differ on Adora's year of establishment. The Jewish Virtual Library lists the community as founded in 1983, while the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics' 2022 locality file gives 1984.[1][3]

On April 27, 2002, terrorists infiltrated Adora and killed four residents.[4] In December 2003, the community hosted the final exercise of a new army course for community security coordinators.[8] On January 12, 2024, security forces killed three armed men during a thwarted infiltration attempt near the community's industrial zone.[5][9]

Population data compiled by the Jewish Virtual Library show a decline from 291 residents in 1999 to 257 in 2009, followed by an increase to 492 in 2020. The table records 487 residents in 2021, 512 in 2022, 563 in 2023, 598 in 2024, and 628 in 2025.[1]

The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics recorded a population of 515 for 2022.[3] An earlier reference table gave the population as 186 as of December 31, 2004.[6] Despite differences between the available series, the figures show that Adora's population more than doubled between 1999 and 2025.

On April 27, 2002, terrorists dressed in Israel Defense Forces uniforms and combat gear cut through Adora's perimeter fence, entered homes, and fired on residents in their bedrooms.[4] Accounts differ on the number of assailants: an Amnesty International report described three armed men, while a later Ynet retrospective described Fadi Duik and one other attacker.[10][11] Four residents were killed: Danielle Shefi, age five; Arik Becker, age twenty-two; Katrina (Katya) Greenberg, whose age was reported as forty-three by Ynet and forty-five by the Jewish Virtual Library; and Yaakov Katz, age fifty-one.[4][11] Seven other residents were wounded, one seriously.[4]

Danielle Shefi was shot in her bedroom while hiding under a bed. Her mother, Shiri, and her brothers — Uriel, aged four, and Eliad, aged two — were also wounded.[10] A local alert squad confronted the attackers inside the community, and Becker was killed during that encounter.[11] The Ynet retrospective said one attacker was killed, while Duik was arrested and later released in the Shalit prisoner exchange.[11]

Hamas's Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed the attack as a "heroic and daring operation," while the PFLP was also reported to have claimed responsibility.[4][10] The Washington Institute for Near East Policy placed the attack within a Hamas infrastructure in Hebron overseen by Abdul Khaleq al-Natsheh.[12] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs attributes responsibility to Abdullah Abd Al-Kadr Kawasme, who it says was killed by the IDF on June 21, 2003.[13]

Israeli government mapping materials also record the attack, noting that four Israelis, including a five-year-old girl, were killed when terrorists infiltrated the community.[2]

In December 2003, Adora hosted the closing exercise of a first-of-its-kind army course for community security coordinators from across Israel.[8] The two-week course had two tracks: one trained coordinators as combatants, while the other prepared them to command local alert squads. Its purpose was to equip coordinators to respond to an attacker inside a community until military and other forces arrived.[8]

The final exercise simulated an infiltration using blank ammunition and role-players as attackers, injured people, and responders. It took place in the same Adora neighborhood where the 2002 attack had occurred and was conducted as part of lessons learned from earlier community infiltrations.[8]

On the evening of January 12, 2024, cameras around Adora showed suspicious figures near the industrial zone and raised concern that the fence had been cut.[5] A reservist who went to inspect the perimeter was shot and wounded. Ynetnews described him as a man in his thirties who was hit in the leg and hospitalized in moderate condition.[14][9]

Security forces subsequently located and killed all three armed men during searches of the area.[5][9] Maariv identified them as Muhammad Arafat Abu Ghaisha, age sixteen; Odi Abu Ghaisha, age sixteen; and Ismail Abu Ghaisha, age nineteen, all residents of Idhna.[9] Its account said they became trapped between the industrial-zone perimeter fence and an additional security barrier and were killed after exchanging fire with reservists.[9]

N12 reported that the weapons found included an M-16 rifle, knives, axes, and Molotov cocktails.[5] Ynetnews also reported grenades among the recovered weapons.[14] The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported that the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attempted attack.[15] N12 said the quantity of weapons indicated an intention to carry out a substantially larger attack.[5]

Adora is situated beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders and is described by reference sources as a Jewish or Israeli settlement in the West Bank.[1][6] The political and legal status of Israeli settlement activity in Judea and Samaria is contested internationally.

In 2019, the United States announced that it no longer regarded the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements as inherently inconsistent with international law, while stating that this position did not prejudge the ultimate status of the West Bank.[16] The European Union reaffirmed its longstanding position that settlement activity in what it terms the occupied Palestinian territory is illegal under international law.[16]