Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered a “total lockdown” of the occupied West Bank after the Israeli army said it had killed two Palestinians accused of launching a shooting spree that injured five people near the city of Hebron.
The deadly incident comes just days before crucial elections that will decide whether Netanyahu can retain power.
There has been a recent surge in Israeli settler violence and military activity in the West Bank, centered around the start of the olive harvest season, with Palestinians, activists and American journalists among those attacked and detained.
Netanyahu’s office said it had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to “impose a closure” on Hebron and prepare for a “total lockdown” across the entire West Bank starting Friday.
In comments following an emergency meeting with his security cabinet and senior military and security officials, Netanyahu blamed the shooting on Hamas and said the militant group was “planning a major attack aimed at assassinating innocent civilians.”
It cited “large quantities of weapons and ammunition discovered” but did not provide further details about the attack.
“Our brave soldiers thwarted this attack with courage and determination,” he said in a statement shared by the Israeli government press service. “I commend them for their actions and wish our injured a speedy recovery,” he added. He did not specify whether among the injured were soldiers or civilians.
The order to lock down the West Bank came hours after the Israeli military said it had killed two people. after a shooting in which at least five people were injured. He said the gunmen were armed with an M16 rifle and a handgun and that “numerous” soldiers would be operating in the area following the incident.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency service, said it received a report around 7:15 a.m. local time (12:15 a.m. ET) of several casualties following the attack near the Yehuda intersection near Hebron. He said first responders provided medical treatment to at least five people, including two in critical condition.
The identities of the two people suspected of launching the attack and who were killed by Israeli forces were not immediately clear Friday morning.
The lockdown comes ahead of next week’s Israeli elections, which are widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership following the October 7, 2023 attacks carried out by Hamas.
Netanyahu has focused much of his campaign ahead of next Tuesday’s vote on the security of Israelis. His government has repeatedly warned of possible attacks from the country’s “enemies” in the run-up to the elections, without providing evidence.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, called Friday for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, the governing body that has long overseen parts of the West Bank, in response to the alleged attack near Hebron.
“There cannot be a situation in which in Judea and Samaria we live in a state of terror,” he said in a post on X, using a name used by some Israelis for the region. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich shared similar sentiments, saying it was “impossible to avoid a comprehensive military campaign” in the West Bank to “dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists – just like in Gaza and Lebanon.”
The West Bank has been a growing hot spot for months, and last week saw a new wave of settler violence and military activity in the territory as the Palestinian olive harvest season began.
American nationals were among those attacked while accompanying Palestinian farmers in their harvests. Earlier this week, New York congressional candidate Brad Lander was arrested in the area alongside a number of American activists and rabbis.
Settler violence has long erupted during the olive harvest season, but in the years following the October 7 attacks, violence increased sharply, with Palestinians also seeing their olives stolen.
According to the United Nations, at least 160 Israeli settler attacks linked to the olive harvest season were recorded in the first two weeks of October alone. The UN said many of the attacks were carried out “under the protection or with the participation of Israeli forces.”
Netanyahu’s government has supported settlement expansion in the West Bank despite international condemnation.
Growing settler violence is increasingly being characterized as terrorism by some world officials, including the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
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