Netanyahu orders West Bank lockdown, warns of major military operation after Hebron attack

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a lockdown across the occupied West Bank and warned that Israel is preparing a military operation there on a scale not seen in decades, after two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers near Hebron on Friday. The attack took place days before Israeli parliamentary elections scheduled for Tuesday.

The Israeli army said the two soldiers "fell in combat" at a checkpoint near the Palestinian city of Hebron, in an area the military referred to as the Judea Junction. Three other soldiers were wounded. Rescue services had earlier reported five casualties, two of them seriously hurt.

An Agence France-Presse photographer travelling to another assignment witnessed the gun battle at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint and saw two Palestinian men, armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle, exchanging fire with Israeli forces. The soldiers eventually shot and killed both attackers. The photographer saw their bodies lying next to a petrol station as troops patrolled the area.

Mr. Netanyahu praised the soldiers' response, saying they had "prevented what could have been a major attack". He ordered a lockdown in the West Bank and said troops were "carrying out stepped-up operations to thwart terrorist activities and are conducting large-scale waves of arrests".

Visiting Hebron later on Friday, the Prime Minister said he and Defence Minister Israel Katz were "considering a very extensive IDF (Israel Defence Forces) operation in Judea and Samaria, such as has not been carried out since" the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when Israel first occupied the territory. Judea and Samaria is the Israeli term for the West Bank. "The IDF is ready to execute it and we will set the timing, but it is on the way," he said.

He said a first operation would see Israeli forces "enter the neighbourhood from which the terrorists came, evacuate the residents, go from house to house, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure". He said the military would follow a model used in refugee camps in the northern West Bank during a large-scale operation launched in January 2025, which the United Nations said forcibly displaced thousands of people.

With voting only days away, Mr. Netanyahu also called for all Likud party political meetings to be cancelled on Friday because of the attack. He is contesting a closely fought race for a new term.

Before his announcement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of the coalition who also holds a position in the defence ministry, called for a fresh offensive in the West Bank "exactly like in Gaza". "There is no other option but a comprehensive military campaign in Judea and Samaria to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists," he said, adding that this would be among the first measures he would demand from the next government. He later said he had "ordered the immediate demolition of a wide row of illegal Arab structures adjacent to the attack site".

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, another far-right figure, called for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to be "dismantled and demilitarised, and its terror infrastructure wiped out completely".

There is no evidence that the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates security matters with Israel, was connected to Friday's attack.

Hamas praised the shooting as a "heroic operation" and called for more, without claiming responsibility. The group, which governs Gaza and is a rival of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, described the attack as a "natural and legitimate response to the ongoing crimes and brutal attacks against our people", and mourned the two assailants.

Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war, and the territory is regarded as occupied under international law. Palestinians seek it as the core of a future state. Violence in the territory has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas — described as the deadliest in the country's history — and the subsequent war in Gaza.