Hebron sealed off: Israel launches raid – Netanyahu announces major offensive

After a deadly attack on a checkpoint near Hebron, the Israeli military has begun a multi-day operation in the city in the occupied West Bank. Two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others on Friday, according to the army; both attackers were shot dead in a gunfight lasting about 20 minutes. Hamas did not claim the attack but praised it. According to The Times of Israel, the army, the Shin Bet domestic security service and the Border Police are searching the area and expect to question “many dozens of suspects.” The raid is limited to the area the attackers came from, the army said. A closure was imposed on Hebron, a city of more than 200,000 people, and surrounding communities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the scene that the attackers' neighborhood would first be evacuated, searched house by house and its “terrorist infrastructure” destroyed. He also announced a very broad operation in the West Bank unlike any since the 1967 Six-Day War, with the timing to be set by the military. According to AFP, the military will apply a model it used in refugee camps in the northern West Bank in January 2025, an operation the U.N. said displaced thousands. Far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a large-scale offensive “exactly like in Gaza,” while his cabinet colleague Itamar Ben-Gvir said the Palestinian Authority “must be dismantled.” AFP said there is no evidence linking the authority to the attack.

Netanyahu called the attack an attempt to influence Tuesday's parliamentary election. His main rival, former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, praised the soldiers' response. According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health data, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed 1,117 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October 2023. At least 51 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or military operations over the same period.