Netanyahu announces 'major military operation' after 2 Israeli soldiers killed in West Bank

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday the launch of a major military operation in the occupied West Bank, where two Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack just days before Tuesday's parliamentary elections.

The soldiers, ages 20 and 23, were killed in an attack by two assailants in the southern city of Hebron, the army said. An initial report said five soldiers were wounded, two seriously. The army said the three other soldiers suffered minor injuries.

Four days before parliamentary elections in which he faces a fight for his political survival, Netanyahu visited the scene in Hebron and ordered the army to completely seal off the city. "The defense minister and I are considering a very large-scale operation [in the West Bank], the likes of which we haven't seen since the Six-Day War" in 1967, Netanyahu said in a video address. "We will set the timing, but it's on the way," he added, wearing a bulletproof vest.

In the meantime, Netanyahu announced the launch of an operation similar to those conducted since 2025 in Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank, involving the evacuation of residents and a large-scale deployment of military resources. In the neighborhood where the two assailants, who were killed, came from, "we will evacuate residents and go house to house," he said. The Israeli army said it was conducting "counterterrorism operations" in the West Bank following the attack.

Earlier in the morning, two assailants dressed in black, one armed with an assault rifle and the other with a pistol, opened fire on soldiers in Hebron before being shot dead, an AFP photographer reported.

'Like in Gaza'

The attack comes amid heightened tensions in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Netanyahu said a "large-scale attack" had been averted.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key figure in the far-right government, called on X for a military campaign in the West Bank "like in Gaza and Lebanon," "to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate the terrorists." He immediately ordered the demolition of several "illegal" Palestinian buildings near the site of the attack.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, another far-right figure, also responded by calling for the Palestinian Authority to be dismantled. "We must not wait for another Oct. 7 to happen [in the West Bank]. That's where the next war will break out," said Ben Gvir, who also visited the scene. "The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarized," he added.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Hamas, which carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, praised a "heroic operation" without claiming responsibility and called on Palestinians in the West Bank to undertake "total mobilization" and carry out similar attacks. Netanyahu vowed to hunt down all members of the Palestinian Islamist movement "everywhere, at all times." His main electoral rival, former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, praised the "courage of the soldiers" who "prevented a major attack."

Hezbollah also praised the attack in a statement, describing it as "the heroic operation carried out by two martyr heroes ... in the city of Hebron, at the Farch el-Hawa checkpoint, an operation that caused several deaths and injuries among the Zionist occupation forces." The pro-Iranian party said the operation "is a natural and legitimate response to the ongoing crimes committed by the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people."

Powder keg

The attack took place at an army checkpoint at a major intersection north of Hebron, the largest city in the occupied West Bank, where tensions run especially high. The city is divided into two sectors: one controlled by the Palestinian authorities and the other, where settlers live within the city, by the Israeli army. An AFP journalist saw the assailants' bodies lying side by side, guarded by a soldier. The gunfight lasted about 20 minutes, according to Israeli media.

"Following a shooting attack at the Judea junction, soldiers eliminated the two terrorists," the army said in a statement. Israeli authorities generally use the word "terrorist" to refer to Palestinian assailants.

Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war in Gaza. At least 1,113 Palestinians have been killed there since October 2023, mostly by Israeli soldiers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry data. Among those killed, the United Nations recorded 37 people killed by settlers.

In recent weeks, settler attacks on Palestinians and their property, some fatal, have increased during the Palestinian olive harvest. According to Israeli figures, at least 49 Israelis have been killed during the same period, mostly in Palestinian attacks but also during Israeli military operations.

Israeli forces on high alert

Israeli forces are on high alert ahead of the elections. Netanyahu and his far-right allies are campaigning on security issues, and several ministers, including Ben Gvir, regularly call for greater Israeli control over the West Bank.