Overview
- Two gunmen opened fire at a military checkpoint north of Hebron on Friday, were shot dead after about 20 minutes and five Israelis were wounded, with two listed in critical condition.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an immediate cordon on Hebron and directed the army to prepare a full lockdown of the occupied West Bank, while cancelling Likud campaign events ahead of next week’s elections.
- The Israel Defense Forces said it has launched 'antiterror' operations that include house-to-house searches in Hebron and other areas as forces hunt for accomplices or related threats.
- Senior far-right ministers have called for dismantling the Palestinian Authority and a large-scale military campaign in the West Bank, increasing pressure for more sweeping operations.
- Reporting is disputed on some casualty details, and the incident adds to a pattern of rising violence in the West Bank since October 2023 that has left over a thousand Palestinians and scores of Israelis dead, according to compiled tallies.