Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday warned of an imminent large-scale military operation in the West Bank and vowed to displace some residents of Hebron after Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers in an attack.
The attack, which happened at a checkpoint near the Palestinian city in the southern occupied West Bank, also left three soldiers wounded. It came days before Israeli elections in which Netanyahu is facing a tight race.
The two gunmen who carried out the attack were killed in a shootout with soldiers.
In a visit to Hebron after the attack, Netanyahu said Israeli forces would enter the neighbourhood of the attackers 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 defence minister and I are considering a very extensive IDF (army) operation in Judea and Samaria, such as has not been carried out since the Six Day War," Netanyahu added, referring to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
"The IDF is ready to execute it and we will set the timing, but it is on the way."
He said the military would apply a model previously used in refugee camps in the northern West Bank. A large-scale military operation dubbed "Iron Wall" launched in January 2025 forcibly displaced tens of thousands of people across several refugee camps, according to the UN rights office.
As of July this year, 33,362 Palestinian refugees displaced from the three camps had not been permitted to return, according to the UN.
Nearly two years on, Israel's military remains present in Jenin refugee camp, which before Iron Wall was a bastion of armed Palestinian militants fighting Israeli occupation.
The army also remains in two refugee camps in the nearby city of Tulkarem.
In all three camps the army demolished dozens of houses in the dense patchwork of alleys in order to ease access for its troops and armoured vehicles, the military said, and set up operational centres for troops in the homes of residents.
"The Jenin refugee camp model is on its way to Hebron," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X Friday.
"Every clan neighbourhood 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, referring to the large families, or clans, that hold much influence in the city of Hebron.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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