Netanyahu orders ‘very extensive’ operation in West Bank after two Israeli soldiers killed

Two soldiers and two Palestinians killed in exchange of fire outside Hebron, where Israeli military says it thwarted ‘terror attack’

Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to prepare for a “very extensive” operation in the occupied West Bank after two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians were killed in an exchange of fire near a checkpoint in Hebron.

The Israeli prime minister said the military would go house to house and demolish homes, in an operation on a scale unseen in the occupied West Bank for decades, after the Israeli military said it had thwarted a “terror attack” by two armed Palestinians on Friday. Tensions are high before next week’s election.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the two assailants opened fire on soldiers at a temporary checkpoint outside Hebron after failing to reach a nearby highway, where the Israeli military believes they had intended to attack civilians. According to a preliminary military investigation, the ensuing gunfight lasted more than 20 minutes, leaving five Israelis wounded, two of whom later died from their injuries.

An AFP photographer who was on the way to another assignment and witnessed the gun battle saw two Palestinian men armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanging fire with Israeli forces.

Netanyahu’s office later said it had instructed security forces to immediately cordon off Hebron and prepare for a full closure of the West Bank starting on Friday.

After the shooting, Netanyahu held an emergency meeting of his security cabinet and officials from top military and security agencies. He said Hamas was “planning a major attack aimed at murdering innocent civilians”.

During a visit to Hebron after the attack, Netanyahu later said Israeli forces would enter the neighbourhood of the attackers and displace its residents. He said the military would apply a model previously used in refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

A large-scale military operation named the “Iron Wall” launched in January 2025 and forcibly displaced tens of thousands of people from several refugee camps, according to the UN rights office.

“We will evacuate the residents, we will go from house to house, we will also seize the weapons there, and all the terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed,” Netanyahu said, according to his office.

Closures of the West Bank are becoming more common. Friday’s lockdown was the fourth time in the past month that Israel had imposed restrictions across the territory, shutting gates and checkpoints connecting Palestinian villages to major roads, which will remain open to Israeli drivers, including settlers, who can still travel through the area.

Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister who also holds a position within the defence ministry, called for a military campaign in the West Bank “exactly like in Gaza”.

He said: “There is no other option but a comprehensive military campaign to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists. Exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon.”