After Hebron Attack Is Foiled, Netanyahu Orders a 'Full Lockdown' Across the Entire West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a 'full lockdown' across the entire occupied West Bank after an attack was foiled in the city of Hebron. He issued the order on Friday morning (October 23).
Earlier, the Israeli military had said it killed two Palestinian gunmen who attacked a reserve army unit near the illegal settlement of Telem. Qatar-based outlet Al Jazeera reported the news.
Claiming that the security forces had foiled a 'major attack', Netanyahu said on social media that he had ordered Hebron to be closed immediately. At the same time, he instructed the security forces to prepare for a full lockdown 'from today across all of Judea and Samaria'. The West Bank is referred to as 'Judea and Samaria' in Israeli administrative language.
Israeli sources had earlier said that two Palestinians travelling in a car with Israeli number plates opened fire on soldiers near one of the many military checkpoints around Hebron.
Israel's ambulance service said at least five Israeli soldiers were injured in the incident. Two of them are in critical condition.
Eyewitnesses in the area said the exchange of fire lasted about 20 minutes, which complicated the process of evacuating the wounded. Photos published by the French news agency AFP showed a man holding a handgun during the clash; he was later seen lying on the ground, surrounded by Israeli soldiers.
Later reports said the Israeli military arrested two Palestinians and sealed off the city of Hebron. After the incident, Netanyahu cancelled several election campaign programmes. Israel's election is scheduled for Tuesday; the attack and the lockdown announcement, coming just before the vote, have created fresh tension in the country's politics.
The attack and the closure come amid rising tension across the Palestinian territory, where violent attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers continue. Ahead of Tuesday's election, incidents of violence, including attacks on olive harvesters, have also increased, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, following the clash, called for taking full control of the West Bank. In a statement he said: 'We must act before it is too late. The Palestinian Authority must be dissolved and disarmed, and their terrorist infrastructure completely destroyed.'
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), on the other hand, praised the attack on the military checkpoint. The groups claimed the attack was a response to Israeli military operations, settler violence and the war in Gaza. They also called for escalating the confrontation against Israeli soldiers and settlers.
If a lockdown is enforced across the whole West Bank, it will directly affect Palestinian daily life there — movement, work and everyday life are at risk of disruption. Attention will now be on how, and how widely, the security forces implement the order.
Taken only days before the election, this hardline step will also remain at the centre of discussion in Israel's domestic politics. What happens next — the duration and scope of the lockdown and which way tensions on the ground move — will become clear in the coming hours and days.
