Israeli forces sealed off Hebron and prepared a territory-wide closure after two gunmen wounded five people. The incident comes days before Israel’s national election.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a full lockdown across the occupied West Bank on Friday after two Palestinian gunmen launched an attack that wounded five people near Hebron, NBC News reported. Israeli forces killed both shooters at the scene and began cordoning off Hebron, a city of more than 200,000 people, as the military prepared for a wider operation, CBS News reported.
Shooting at Yehuda Junction
Israel’s primary emergency service, Magen David Adom, said it received an alert around 7:15 a.m. local time (12:15 a.m. ET) about multiple casualties near the Yehuda Junction by Hebron. First responders treated at least five wounded people at the site, including two who were listed in critical or serious condition. Netanyahu later stated that Israeli soldiers were among those hurt in the gunfire.
According to the Israeli military, the two attackers used an M16 rifle and a handgun to open fire before soldiers shot and killed them. Troops searching the scene found a large cache of weapons and ammunition inside the attackers’ car, which the military said indicated plans for a larger assault against civilians. The identities of the two Palestinian men killed by the military weren’t immediately released as of late Friday morning.
Military sweeps and neighborhood cordons
Netanyahu’s office instructed the Israel Defense Forces to impose a closure on Hebron and ready a full lockdown for the rest of the West Bank starting Friday. The prime minister also directed troops to clear residents from the Hebron neighborhood where the shooters lived before conducting house-to-house searches for hidden arms.
Netanyahu pledged to knock down the structures tied to the assailants. “Our first step will be to demolish this site and completely transform it,” Netanyahu said.
He stated that soldiers would move through the attackers’ home neighborhoods, evacuate civilian residents, and dismantle what he described as terror infrastructure. Netanyahu added that the military was preparing for an extensive operation across the entire territory, while soldiers maintained active searches around the shooting site through the morning.
Spike in olive harvest violence
The military lockdown comes during a period of mounting instability throughout the territory, driven by tensions around the Palestinian olive harvest. Palestinian farmers, foreign activists and journalists have experienced repeated assaults and detentions since the picking season began.
The territory has seen a sharp increase in violence as settlers attack West Bank olive pickers and international observers. American nationals accompanying farmers have faced assaults in the fields, and New York congressional candidate Brad Lander was detained in the West Bank earlier this week along with several activists and American rabbis.
Settler clashes have regularly occurred during previous harvests, but violence has grown significantly since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, with farmers also reporting their crops stolen. The United Nations recorded at least 160 settler attacks connected to the olive harvest during the first two weeks of October. The U.N. reported that many of those incidents took place “under the protection of, or with the participation of, Israeli forces.” Netanyahu’s government has continued to back settlement expansion in the territory despite persistent international criticism.
Security focus ahead of Tuesday vote
The confrontation unfolded just days before Israel holds a general election on Tuesday, a vote viewed largely as a test of public confidence in Netanyahu’s leadership following the 2023 Hamas-led attacks.
Netanyahu has built his reelection pitch around national security for Israeli citizens. In recent weeks, his administration repeatedly warned that enemies of the country were preparing attacks intended to affect the outcome of the race, though the government didn’t provide evidence to back those claims.
Following Friday’s shooting near Hebron, Netanyahu said the assault was a direct attempt to sway the vote. He pointed to his previous public warnings about planned disruptions as the country heads into the final days of campaigning.
