Israel orders ‘full lockdown’ of West Bank after deadly shootings

Magen David Adom, Israel’s primary emergency service, had earlier said it received a report at around 7:15 a.m. local time (12:15 a.m. ET) of multiple casualties following the attack near the Yehuda Junction, near Hebron. It said first responders had provided medical treatment to at least five people, including two in critical condition.

The identities of the two people alleged to have launched the attack and who were killed by Israeli forces were not immediately clear as of late Friday morning.

The lockdown comes ahead of next week’s Israeli election, which is largely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership around the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

Netanyahu has focused much of campaign in the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote on security for Israelis. His government has repeatedly warned of potential attacks by the country’s “enemies” in the lead-up to the election, without providing evidence.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested there would be a sweeping offensive in Hebron, comparing it to Israel’s deadly assault in Gaza and its operations Lebanon, as well as in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.

“Every clan neighborhood in Hebron from which the terrorists emerged today will be evacuated of its residents, and the terror infrastructure in the neighborhood will be addressed and dismantled,” he said. “This is the only language that jihadist terrorism understands. Just like in Gaza, just like in Lebanon.”

Image: Israeli soldiers and emergency personnel gather near ambulances — Israeli soldiers and emergency personnel near the scene of the shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday.Mahmoud Illean / AP

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, called Friday for the Palestinian Authority, the governing body that has long overseen parts of the occupied West Bank, to be dismantled in response to the attack.

“There cannot be a situation where, within Judea and Samaria, we have a state of terror,” he said in a post on X, using a name employed by some Israelis for the area. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich shared similar sentiments, saying there was “no avoiding a comprehensive military campaign” in the West Bank to “dismantle the Palestinian authority, collect weapons, and eliminate terrorists — just as in Gaza and Lebanon.”

The West Bank has been a growing flashpoint for months, and the past week has seen another wave of settler violence and military activity in the territory as the Palestinian olive harvesting season has gotten underway.

Image: Itamar Ben Gvir speaks to press — Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at the scene of the shooting Friday.Ahmad Gharabli / AFP via Getty

American nationals are among those who have come under attack while accompanying Palestinian farmers on their harvests. Earlier this week, New York congressional candidate Brad Lander was detained in the area alongside a number of activists and American rabbis.

Settler violence has long flared during the olive harvesting season, but in the years since the Oct. 7 attacks, violence has increased sharply, with Palestinians also seeing their olives stolen.

According to the United Nations, at least 160 Israeli settler attacks linked to the olive harvesting season were recorded in the first two weeks of October alone. The U.N. said many of those attacks were carried out “under the protection of, or with the participation of, Israeli forces.”

Netanyahu’s government has backed settler expansion in the West Bank despite international condemnation.

The mounting settler violence has increasingly been described as terrorism by some global officials, including by U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

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