Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the army is preparing to carry out a large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank, including forcing residents of a neighborhood in the city of Hebron to leave their homes, following an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others.
During a visit to Hebron following the attack, Netanyahu said that Israeli forces “will enter the neighborhood from which the two terrorists emerged, evacuate residents, move from one house to another, and destroy the terrorists’ infrastructure,” according to a statement issued by his office.
He added: "The Minister of Defense and I are considering implementing a large-scale military operation in Judea and Samaria, the likes of which the region has not witnessed since the Six-Day War."
He continued: "The Israeli army is fully prepared to implement it, and we will determine its date. It is under preparation."
Netanyahu indicated that the army will apply in Hebron the model of military operations that it previously carried out in the refugee camps in the northern West Bank.
In January 2025, the Israeli army began a large-scale military operation that led to the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps.
According to a report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the number of Palestinian refugees who remained deprived of returning to their homes until July 2026 reached about 33,362 people.
The Israeli army still controls the Jenin refugee camp, along with the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, more than a year and a half after the start of the operation.
The three camps witnessed massive demolition of homes and infrastructure. The Israeli army said that the demolitions aim to open paths that allow its forces and armored vehicles to move inside the camps.
In a post on the X platform on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said, “The Jenin refugee camp model is on its way to Hebron.”
He added, "Every neighborhood in Hebron from which the two terrorists emerged today will be evacuated of its residents, and its terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and dismantled."
Netanyahu and Katz's statements came after a shooting attack targeting an Israeli military checkpoint near the Farsh al-Hawa area in Hebron, south of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu had ordered the imposition of an immediate security cordon on the city of Hebron, and preparations for a complete closure of the West Bank, following the attack.
The Israeli army announced that two of its soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in the attack. The army said that its forces killed two Palestinians it accused of carrying out the attack, after an exchange of fire that lasted about 20 minutes.
The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) reported that the Israeli forces had tightened their military measures at most of the entrances and exits of the governorates in the West Bank.
On Friday morning, Israeli medics announced that at least five Israelis had been wounded, before the Israeli army later announced that two soldiers had been killed and three others wounded.
The Director General of the Israeli Ambulance Service (Magen David Adom), Eli Ben, said that the injured were injured as a result of gunfire, and received first aid from emergency teams and army personnel.
The Palestinian Ma'an Agency reported that Israeli forces sent reinforcements to the area and imposed a security cordon on a number of nearby villages.
These developments come days before the Israeli general elections scheduled for October 27. Netanyahu and his right-wing allies are running in the elections with positions that call for expanding settlements in the West Bank and oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Following the attack, Netanyahu ordered his Likud party to cancel all of its political activities scheduled for Friday morning.
Netanyahu said, according to a statement issued by his office, that Israeli forces thwarted what he described as a “large-scale attack” in the West Bank.
For its part, Hamas described the attack as a “heroic operation,” considering that it comes “within the framework of a natural and legitimate response to the continuing crimes and brutal attacks against our people, our land, and our holy places in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for launching a military campaign in the occupied West Bank, “just as in Gaza.”
Smotrich said: “There is no other choice but to launch a comprehensive military campaign to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists, just as in Gaza and Lebanon.”
Reuters reported that Israeli bulldozers began demolishing homes in Hebron close to the shooting site.
For his part, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, saying: “We should not wait for a repeat of the October 7 attack in the West Bank, because that is where the next war will break out.”
