Israel seals Hebron after attack kills two soldiers

Israel sealed the West Bank city of Hebron and the nearby town of Halhul on Friday, Oct. 23, and began a large military operation after two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, the Israeli military said.

The attack came four days before Israel’s Oct. 27 election, the country’s first since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a West Bank offensive he described as unlike any since the Six-Day War of 1967.

The military named the dead soldiers as Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, the Times of Israel reported. The two gunmen opened fire at a checkpoint at Judea Junction on Route 35 near Hebron, and troops shot them dead after a gunfight that lasted more than 20 minutes, the newspaper said.

Israeli first responders said five people were wounded, two of them critically. ABC News in Australia reported three others injured, a count that differs from the first responders’ figure. Israeli security forces identified the gunmen as Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba, both 27 and members of the same family, ABC reported.

The military said a large amount of ammunition found in the attackers’ car showed they planned a mass shooting. Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said the troops’ response “prevented an even more serious attack” and vowed to “pursue all those involved.” Those claims could not be independently verified.

Netanyahu cancelled election events and travelled to Hebron. “You have no safe haven,” he said, according to the Times of Israel. He said the military would use what he called its “successful and aggressive offensive model” from refugee camps in the West Bank and consider expanding it to other cities, ABC reported. He said planned operations across the West Bank would be “unlike any seen since the Six-Day War” and that “we will determine the timing.”

The military said the Hebron raid is “focused and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated” and is expected to last several days, the Times of Israel reported. Troops, Shin Bet agents and Border Police plan to question “many dozens of suspects.” Palestinian residents may leave through three designated exit points after questioning and security checks. Troops also measured the gunmen’s homes ahead of possible demolition, the newspaper reported.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for Israel to take full control of the West Bank. “The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarised,” he said, according to Al Jazeera. Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine praised the attack, Al Jazeera reported. ABC said Hamas praised the gunmen but did not claim the attack.

Tension in the West Bank was already high. Al Jazeera, citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, reported that Israeli forces arrested 36 Palestinians in raids across the territory on Thursday, Oct. 22. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian body, documented 17 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest that day. Those figures are the Palestinian side’s accounts and were not independently verified.

Canadians in Israel and the West Bank can check Global Affairs Canada’s current advice at travel.gc.ca. For the political backdrop to the vote, see our report on Trump’s backing of Netanyahu as Israeli polls show a deadlock.

The Times of Israel reported that the West Bank and Gaza were expected to be under lockdown on Monday and Tuesday for the vote. The Hebron operation is expected to continue for several days.

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Via Times of Israel, ABC News (Australia) and Al Jazeera.