Two Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli army checkpoint near the city of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, killing two soldiers and lightly injuring three before being shot dead on Friday October 23. In the process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the total closure of the entire occupied West Bank, and announced that he was considering the launch of a large-scale operation in this Palestinian territory, "like there has not been one since the Six-Day War" in 1967. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about the situation, which also impacts the campaign for the legislative elections scheduled for Tuesday.
Two shooters arrived Friday morning at a temporary Israeli army checkpoint at a major road intersection north of Hebron and opened fire, reports the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Photos by an AFP photographer, who witnessed the shooting, show them dressed in black, one equipped with an assault rifle, the other with a pistol. Israeli authorities presented them as two Palestinians from Hebron.
The attackers hit five soldiers. Two of them, aged 20 and 23, died from their wounds, while the other three were lightly injured, the Israeli army announced. The shooters were shot dead on the spot.
“The rapid intervention of the troops helped avert an even more serious attack and further casualties among civilians and security forces,” the army chief of staff said. A large quantity of ammunition was found in the vehicle used by the shooters and was believed to be intended for a larger attack.
“It appears that Hamas terrorists were planning a major attack aimed at assassinating innocent civilians, as evidenced by the large quantities of weapons and ammunition discovered,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said on X.
Hamas praised a “heroic operation”, without claiming responsibility for it. The terrorist group ruling the Gaza Strip also called on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to "total mobilization" and carry out similar attacks.
In reaction to this attack, Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an "immediate closure" of the city of Hebron, and asked the army to prepare the "total closure" of the West Bank during the day. In the Hebron neighborhood where the two perpetrators of the attack come from, “we are going to evacuate residents and go from house to house,” he detailed.
Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Israel Katz, compared the upcoming operations to those in refugee camps in the northern West Bank, such as Jenin and Tulkarem, where Israeli forces forced the displacement of more than 30,000 Palestinians and carried out destructive operations, including a rare airstrike in late August in Jenin. "The model of the Jenin refugee camp is coming to Hebron. Each neighborhood (...) from which the terrorists left today will be evacuated of its inhabitants and the terrorist infrastructure of the neighborhood will be destroyed," Israel Katz declared on X.
“The Minister of Defense and I are considering a very large-scale operation [in the West Bank], as there has not been one since the Six-Day War” in 1967, Benjamin Netanyahu also added in a video address broadcast on social networks, where he appeared wearing a bulletproof vest. “We’ll set the time for it, but it’s on its way.” At the end of the Six-Day War, Israel occupied the entirety of Palestine, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip, in addition to the Egyptian Sinai and the Syrian Golan.
The Israeli army announced that it was carrying out “offensive anti-terrorist operations” in several points in the West Bank, notably the Hebron area, “which has been sealed off”. This city, the most populous in the West Bank, where tensions are particularly strong, is divided into two sectors, one controlled by the Palestinian Authority and the other, where Israeli settlers live, by the Israeli army.
The attack, which occurred four days before the Israeli legislative elections on October 27, hits the electoral campaign. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is gambling on his future at the head of the country and is campaigning in particular on national security, announced the cancellation of all campaign events for his party, Likud.
The Minister of National Security, far-right leader Itamar Ben Gvir, called for "dismantling" and "demilitarizing" the Palestinian Authority, in power in the occupied West Bank: "We must not wait for October 7 to happen." Another far-right pillar of the government and supporter of Israeli colonization in the occupied West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared on X "to order the immediate demolition of a large number of illegal Arab constructions adjacent to the scene of the attack". He calls for "a major military campaign" in the West Bank, "exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon", and also wants to dismantle the Palestinian Authority.
On Thursday, on the eve of the attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz estimated that the Israeli opposition would be responsible for any future attack against the country, recalls Haaretz. He accused them of doubting Benjamin Netanyahu's warnings about a potential attack during the election period.
On Friday, opposition leader and former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, the outgoing Prime Minister's main rival in these legislative elections, praised the "courage of the soldiers" who "prevented a major attack".
