Israeli soldiers shot and killed two men whom the military said had launched an attack near the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday morning, and within hours Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office ordered security forces to cordon off the city and prepare to fully close the entire West Bank, starting that day. Netanyahu said in a statement that he had instructed the military to “impose a cordon on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full closure of the entire West Bank starting today.” NBC News described the order as a “full lockdown.”3,4,5,7
The military said the two men had launched an attack and that they carried an M16 rifle and a handgun. Emergency responders placed the attack near the Yehuda Junction, close to Hebron. The army said it had prevented a “terror attack against Israeli civilians” but did not say who the intended target was. Al Jazeera described the two men as Palestinians suspected of carrying out a gun attack near a military checkpoint, and NBC News reported that the military accused them of launching the shooting.4,5,6
Magen David Adom, Israel’s primary emergency service, said it received a report at around 7:15 a.m. local time of multiple casualties and had treated at least five people, two of them in critical condition. Emergency responders said two men in their 20s had gunshot wounds to their lower limbs, one of them unconscious and seriously injured. “We arrived at a difficult scene while shooting was still taking place in the area,” said Tzuriel Edri of the response team.4,5
The outlets gave different accounts of the toll. NBC News reported that the military later said two soldiers had been killed and three others lightly injured, and DW gave the same figure of two soldiers killed. France 24 reported that at least five people were injured, some critically, without mentioning soldiers’ deaths, and the New York Post’s headline said five people were wounded. The identities of the two men were not immediately clear as of late Friday morning, NBC News reported.2,4,5,7
Netanyahu commended what he called “our heroic fighters, who acted resolutely and prevented a major terrorist attack, and wish our wounded a speedy recovery,” according to his statement. After an emergency meeting with his security cabinet and top military and security officials, he blamed Hamas for the shooting and said the group was “planning a major attack aimed at murdering innocent civilians.” He cited “large quantities of weapons and ammunition discovered” but gave no further details, and he did not say whether the injured included soldiers or civilians. The New York Post’s headline described the two men as Hamas terrorists.2,5,7
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, said the Hebron attack showed that Israel needed to restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement in the West Bank. “The lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria, of the settlers, the lives of the soldiers, the lives of the police officers, the lives of our fighters are a million times more important than freedom of movement,” he said. NBC News reported that he also called for the Palestinian Authority, which has long overseen parts of the West Bank, to be dismantled. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said there was “no avoiding a comprehensive military campaign” in the territory to “dismantle the Palestinian authority, collect weapons, and eliminate terrorists — just as in Gaza and Lebanon.”4,5
The shooting came days before Israelis vote on Tuesday, in an election NBC News said is largely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership around the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. Netanyahu has focused much of his campaign on security for Israelis, NBC News reported, and his government has repeatedly warned of potential attacks by the country’s “enemies” without providing evidence. France 24 reported that Netanyahu said Hamas could attack Israel in a bid to influence the outcome of the election, and that he did not provide evidence to back up the claim.4,5
The shooting also came amid a surge in settler violence and military activity in the West Bank, centered on the start of the olive harvesting season, NBC News reported. Palestinians, activists and American journalists have been among those attacked or detained, and Brad Lander, a New York congressional candidate, was detained in the area earlier in the week along with activists and American rabbis. According to the United Nations, at least 160 Israeli settler attacks linked to the harvest were recorded in the first two weeks of October alone, many of them carried out “under the protection of, or with the participation of, Israeli forces.” DW reported that dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the start of the year.5,7
The military subsequently set up roadblocks and closures in Palestinian towns in the area, France 24 reported. NBC News reported that the military said “numerous” soldiers would be operating in the area after the incident.4,5
An investigation was under way, authorities said. Netanyahu’s office gave no further details on the planned closure of the territory, NBC News reported.4,5
