Latest, October 24: The Israeli military has begun demolishing structures close to the scene of Friday’s checkpoint attack in Hebron as its crackdown in the city continues, The New York Times reported, with troops erecting roadblocks and closing the city’s main entrances and exits and the operation expected to last several days. Military chief of staff Eyal Zamir said in a statement that the two soldiers killed had prevented an even more serious attack, and the military said a large cache of ammunition was found in a vehicle used by the attackers.
Latest: The United Nations said on Friday it was extremely alarmed by intensifying violence in the occupied West Bank as Israel moved to seal off the territory after the Hebron attack, UN News reported. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General António Guterres was deeply concerned by the closures and by reports of home demolitions and possible displacement in Hebron, and that the closures severely restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement, access to basic services and livelihoods. Guterres condemned what the UN called record numbers of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in 2026 and recalled Israel’s obligation as the occupying power to protect the Palestinian population and hold perpetrators to account. Mayy El Sheikh, spokesperson for the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called the lockdown a pattern of collective punishment, said Hebron’s entrances and exits were closed and the Ibrahimi Mosque shut, leaving worshippers unable to perform Friday prayers, and said the closure comes at the height of the olive harvest, with movement restrictions already preventing thousands of farmers from reaching their groves. The human rights office has documented more than 160 settler attacks in the first two weeks of October alone, involving live ammunition, arson, crop theft and damage to olive groves.
The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had launched a large-scale military operation in Hebron following the attack at the Judea Junction checkpoint, Anadolu Agency reported. Troops had taken security measures across the city, encircled it, set up checkpoints at its entrances and built roadblocks, and were conducting searches in the area where the attackers lived, the military said, adding that the operation against what it called terrorist infrastructure would continue until its objectives were achieved. The army said the operation would continue for a few more days, that residents of the operation area could leave through three designated points after search and interrogation, and that the operation was being carried out with the Shin Bet security service, the Border Police and the Civil Administration. Israeli media reported Hebron and the neighbouring town of Halhul placed under a military cordon, with entry and exit banned.
Two Israeli soldiers, Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, were killed in Friday’s shooting at the Judea Junction checkpoint near Hebron, and the two Palestinian gunmen were killed in the shootout, AFP reported. Visiting Hebron, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and the defence minister were considering a very extensive military operation across Judea and Samaria such as has not been carried out since the Six-Day War, that the army was ready to execute it and that it was on the way, with forces to enter the attackers’ neighbourhood, go house to house, seize weapons and destroy militant infrastructure. The military said it had launched offensive operations in the Hebron area and was raiding the suspects’ homes, and Netanyahu said he had ordered an immediate cordon on Hebron, preparation for a full lockdown of the West Bank starting today and large-scale waves of arrests. Hamas praised the attack as a heroic operation without claiming responsibility, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a comprehensive offensive exactly like in Gaza, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir again demanded the Palestinian Authority be dismantled, with no evidence presented linking the Authority to the attack.
Suspected Palestinian gunmen wounded five Israelis in a shooting at the Judea Junction checkpoint outside Hebron on Friday before Israeli troops killed both gunmen in a prolonged shootout, Reuters reported, with an AFP journalist at the scene witnessing the exchange of fire. Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, said two of the wounded were in critical condition, and the Israel Defence Forces said the attackers were carrying significant ammunition. Facing a tight election race on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled all political meetings, instructed the military to impose a cordon around Hebron and said he had told security forces to prepare for a full lockdown of the whole West Bank starting today, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demanded the complete dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, though officials presented no evidence linking the Palestinian leadership to the shooting, and Hamas praised the attack as an exceptional heroic operation without explicitly claiming responsibility.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he had instructed the military to impose a cordon on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full closure of the entire occupied West Bank starting today, Deutsche Welle reported. Netanyahu said gunmen attacked Israeli soldiers on Friday morning at a checkpoint near Hebron and that soldiers killed two of the gunmen in a firefight, preventing what he called a major attack, and DW reported at least five people wounded, several critically, without naming a source for that figure. The move comes days before an Israeli election and amid rising settler violence in the West Bank, where DW said dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the start of the year.