Israel closes West Bank after shoot-out days before election

Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the closure of the entire West Bank after suspected Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers before being shot dead. A further five Israelis were wounded and two remain in critical condition. Pictures show the moment the attackers were shot dead in the street, while others taken in the aftermath show their bodies lying in the road. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) also released a picture of an assault rifle, a handgun, and ammunition that it said the gunmen used in the attack.

In footage shared online, a medic shouts: “Take cover, come to the ambulance, it’s bulletproof.” In another clip, he is heard saying: “We haven’t yet managed to extract the wounded out, there is active shooting for over 20 minutes.” The IDF said that two soldiers, Staff Sgt Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sgt Yuval Shai Svilem, had been killed and three others had minor injuries. The attack came four days before Israel’s general election , at which security is expected to be the foremost issue for most Israeli voters.

Mr Netanyahu has been warning that Israel faces a terror threat in the run-up to the vote. In a visit to Hebron following the attack on Friday, he promised that the attackers’ neighbourhood would be destroyed. The prime minister’s office said it had instructed security forces to cordon off Hebron and prepare to close all of the West Bank , starting on Friday, just days before Israel’s general election. The military has set up roadblocks and closures in Palestinian towns in the area and blocked checkpoints linking villages to major roads.

The roads will remain open to Israeli drivers and settlers. Mr Netanyahu said Israeli forces would displace residents in the neighbourhood of the suspects and apply the “Iron Wall” model previously used in refugee camps in the northern West Bank. “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,” he said. West Bank closures are not unprecedented, and the lockdown on Friday was the fourth in the past month.

Restrictions are often imposed during Jewish holidays or in the wake of attacks. However, Mr Netanyahu later issued a statement suggesting that a much wider clearout of Palestinian areas in Hebron could be ordered. The Israeli army said it had prevented a “terror attack against Israeli civilians”, and that the gunmen in Friday’s attack had been carrying an M16 rifle and a handgun. It did not elaborate on their alleged target. The army said soldiers and border police “launched offensive counter-terrorism operations in the Hebron area”, and that soldiers were “operating inside the residences of the terrorists and additional suspects”.

The two gunmen have been identified as Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba, both 27-year-old residents of the city, according to the Times of Israel. The two men were members of the same family, but their exact relationship is unknown. Lt Gen Eyal Zamir , the IDF chief of staff, said: “This was a serious attack. The troops’ swift action prevented an even more serious attack and further harm to civilians and security forces.” He said that “a large quantity of ammunition was found in the vehicle in which the terrorists arrived at the scene of the attack, which was intended to be used to carry out a larger-scale attack”.

Emergency responders said five people had been injured, some critically, and that they were being evacuated to hospitals in Israel. A statement from the responders said gunfire was ongoing as they arrived at the scene of the attack near the Yehuda Junction. Two men who appeared to be in their 20s had gunshot wounds to their lower limbs, with one unconscious and seriously injured, the responders said. Mr Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist coalition partners quickly called for retaliation against the wider Palestinian population.

Bezalel Smotrich , Israel’s finance minister, said he had ordered “the immediate demolition of a wide row of illegal Arab structures adjacent to the attack site. “The order will be carried out within the next hour and will take place throughout the afternoon hours.” He had previously called for a military campaign in the West Bank “exactly like in Gaza”. “In the next government this will be one of the first measures that we must demand and apply,” he added.

It is a common practice of the Israeli government to demolish suspects’ homes, as well as neighbouring buildings, following an attack; this is deemed collective punishment and is prohibited under international law. Itamar Ben Gvir , Israel’s far-Right national security minister, had earlier called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority in the aftermath of the attack. “We have to act before it’s too late. The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarised, and its terror infrastructure wiped out completely,” he said in a statement.

“We will implement the successful and aggressive offensive model we carried out in the refugee camps inside the cities – the IDF will enter the neighborhoods from which the terrorists emerged, evacuate the residents, go house-to-house, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure. “We are prepared for a broad operation in Judea and Samaria.” This appeared to refer to the 2025 forced evacuations of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur al-Shams refugee camps in the northern West Bank on security grounds, which resulted in tens of thousands of people being displaced.

Next week’s election takes place three years after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, and at a time when tensions are soaring in the West Bank, fuelled in part by extremist Israeli settlers mounting attacks against Palestinian olive harvesters. Mr Netanyahu ordered his Likud Party to cancel all political events in the wake of Friday’s killings. His warning of increased security threats before the election included the possibility of Palestinian Authority security forces turning their weapons against Israeli troops.

Gadi Eisenkot , the former army chief who is Mr Netanyahu’s leading rival in the election, praised the response by troops. “Like all Israelis, I pray for the complete and quick recovery of the injured,” he said. According to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 1,113 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security staff, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or in Israeli military operations during the same period.