Following a deadly ambush at an Israeli checkpoint near Hebron that left two soldiers dead and three others wounded, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans for a sweeping military campaign across the occupied West Bank. Speaking from the site of the attack, Netanyahu promised an operation on a magnitude not witnessed since the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel first occupied the West Bank nearly six decades ago. In the immediate wake of the shooting, Israeli forces initiated home demolitions and forced hundreds of Palestinian residents out of a Hebron neighborhood, while military vehicles were also deployed in areas across the territory including Turmus Ayya.
The fatal confrontation unfolded when two Palestinian gunmen targeted Israeli soldiers positioned behind concrete barriers at the checkpoint. Military officials reported that an intense gun battle endured for approximately 20 minutes before troops shot and killed both assailants. By Friday afternoon, Israeli heavy machinery had begun bulldozing structures adjacent to the shooting scene. On Saturday, wide-ranging closures were imposed across Hebron, severely restricting movement in and around the West Bank's most populous city. These measures add to an existing network of roughly 925 checkpoints, earth mounds, roadblocks, and other physical barriers that regularly restrict movement across the occupied Palestinian territory.
Standing near Hebron during a televised address, Netanyahu declared, "We will act to demolish this place, to change it completely." The prime minister explicitly drew parallels between his planned campaign and a major Israeli military assault launched last year against two long-standing Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank, which displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians. Human Rights Watch previously stated that those earlier expulsions amounted to war crimes, a charge Israel rejects. Amid the new military push, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem urged foreign governments to intervene immediately to prevent "another wave of ethnic cleansing and war crimes."
The military escalation comes amid a broader surge in violence and land seizures conducted by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Commenting on the rising tensions, the United Nations Human Rights Office for the occupied Palestinian territory described the situation as representing a "new level of dehumanization of Palestinians."
Political analysts directly link the scale of Netanyahu's military response to Israel's national elections scheduled for Tuesday, October 27. Opinion polls indicate that Netanyahu and his primary challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, are running neck and neck, with neither candidate currently holding enough support to form a governing coalition. Observers view the tough security stance as an attempt by the prime minister to project decisive strength to prospective voters.
Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noted that Netanyahu is positioning himself as the country's essential defender ahead of the vote. "For Netanyahu, his ticket before the election is, 'I'm Mr. Security,'" Citrinowicz explained, adding that "in order to show that he is the protector of Israel, he will take harsh measures in order to show the Israeli public that he supports them and he's defending them." However, Citrinowicz cautioned against broad punitive measures, stating, "The way to prevent [more attacks by Palestinians] is not collective punishment. It's by giving hope." He stressed that authorities should "distinguish between those who want to commit terrorist attacks and arrest them and those who just want to live peacefully and help them to live peacefully, with an economy that works, with everything they need for stability."
Israeli armored vehicles are seen parked outside a Palestinian building in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Leo Correa/AP hide caption
In response to that attack yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a tough election on Tuesday, vowed to launch a military operation in the West Bank "on a scale not seen since the Six Day War," when Israel first occupied the West Bank almost 60 years ago.
