Israel orders home demolitions after soldiers killed in West Bank

Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a massive operation in the West Bank, saying his country would "act to destroy this place" after gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday morning.

Netanyahu said Israeli forces would enter the attackers' neighborhood and displace its residents.

"We will evacuate the residents, we will go from house to house, we will also seize the weapons there, and all the terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed," Netanyahu said, according to his office.

The Israeli military said it killed the two attackers. In addition to the two Israeli soldiers killed, three more were lightly wounded in the attack that took place at a temporary military checkpoint at the entrance to Hebron on Friday.

The deadly shooting in Hebron comes four days before Israeli elections on October 27, the first to take place since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a military campaign in the West Bank, "exactly like in Gaza," in response to Friday's incident.

"There is no other option but a comprehensive military campaign in Judea and Samaria to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists. Exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon," Smotrich said, using the Israeli term for the West Bank.

He said he called for the demolition of buildings near the site of Friday's shooting.

"Following the attack, I have ordered the immediate demolition of a wide row of illegal Arab structures adjacent to the attack site," he said.

"The order will be carried out within the next hour and will take place throughout the afternoon hours."

Smotrich, himself a settler in the West Bank, is widely known for championing ultranationalist and inflammatory policies.

He has previously made similar calls for "war" in the West Bank.

Netanyahu said in an earlier statement on X that he had instructed the military to "impose a cordon on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full closure of the entire West Bank starting today."

There was not much known about the Israeli operation in the West Bank at that time.

Israel has steadily tightened its grip in the occupied West Bank, having built dozens of outposts, considered illegal under international law, in the territory over the years.

Settler violence has been on the rise in the West Bank, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War, with dozens of Palestinians having been killed since the start of the year.

The incident comes at a critical time for Israel.

The Israeli election on October 27 is widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving prime minister, who has been criticized by opponents for failing to prevent theHamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Polls indicate that the elections will be a close race between the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs.

Despite international attention on Gaza and the West Bank, there is little difference between the two blocs regarding Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Just days ago, masked Israeli settlers attacked a group of European diplomats and journalists in the West Bank as they accompanied Palestinians for the start of the annual olive harvest.

The IDF condemned the acts of violence and opened a rare investigation into the settlers. Both Israel's occupation and the settlements, which are dotted throughout the territory, are illegal under international law.