The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, which he described as the largest since the Six-Day War of 1967, following a gun attack near Hebron that left two Israeli soldiers dead and three others injured.
The announcement came hours after the shooting at the Yehuda junction, on the outskirts of Hebron, where two armed Palestinians attacked an Israeli military position in a gunfight lasting approximately twenty minutes. The fallen soldiers were identified as Sergeant First Class Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, 20. Both attackers were killed by Israeli forces, who found an M16 rifle, a pistol, and a large amount of ammunition in their vehicle.
In a video posted on his X account from Hebron, Netanyahu was emphatic: "The Defense Minister and I have seen a very extensive action by the Israeli army in Judea and Samaria, unlike anything since the Six-Day War. The army is ready to carry it out; we will choose the moment, but it is on the way."
As an immediate response to the attack, Netanyahu ordered the encirclement of Hebron and arranged for the preparation of a total and indefinite closure of all of the West Bank. In a prior message posted on the same social network, the Prime Minister declared: "I have ordered the Israeli Army and security forces to impose an immediate encirclement of the city of Hebron and to prepare for a total closure of all Judea and Samaria starting today."
Netanyahu also announced that he will apply the same scheme used in the refugee camps in northern West Bank in the Hebron neighborhood from which the attackers came: "We will evacuate the residents, we will go house by house, we will remove the weapons, and all the terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and demolished."
The prime minister also took the opportunity to announce the construction and regularization of over 100 new settlements and more than 100 farms in the West Bank, as well as the demolition of homes that he classifies as illegal along roads that he considers a threat to his forces.
The political context adds a layer of complexity to the announcement. The Israeli parliamentary elections are set for October 27, just four days after the attack. Polls place Netanyahu's bloc between 49 and 53 seats, below the 61 needed to govern. Netanyahu himself acknowledged that the attack was an attempt by "enemies" to harm Israel "before the elections."
The announced offensive is part of a sustained escalation in West Bank since January 2025, when Israel launched Operation "Iron Wall" in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams, displacing more than 33,000 Palestinians who, by July 2026, had still not been able to return. Last September, the UN denounced possible crimes against humanity during those operations.
"We will pursue Hamas terrorists and those who send them everywhere and at all times. They have nowhere to hide," warned Netanyahu in his morning message, pointing to the Islamist movement as responsible for the attack, although that affiliation had not been independently confirmed at the time this information was released.
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