HEBRON: Palestinian militants wounded five Israelis in an attack on Friday before being killed in a prolonged shootout with soldiers, leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order a lockdown in the occupied West Bank days before Israeli elections.
Netanyahu, facing a tight race for a new term in Tuesday's election, said that Israeli troops prevented what could have been a major attack, with the two assailants allegedly carrying a large quantity of ammunition in their vehicle.
An AFP journalist who witnessed the gun battle saw two Palestinian men armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanging fire with Israeli forces at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint near the Palestinian city of Hebron.
Israeli forces eventually shot and killed the attackers, with the AFP journalist seeing their two lifeless bodies on the ground next to a petrol station as troops patrolled all around.
The Israeli military said soldiers had rushed to the Judea Junction area after the early-morning shooting attack and "eliminated two terrorists".
The attack wounded five people, two of whom were in critical condition, said Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency medical rescue service.
The service said all five were Israelis in their 20s, including one man in "very serious condition" with gunshot wounds.
With the clock counting down to election day, Netanyahu called for all Likud party political meetings to be cancelled Friday due to the attack.
"I salute the courage of our soldiers who acted with determination and prevented what could have been a major attack," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"I have instructed the IDF (army) and security forces to impose an immediate cordon on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full lockdown of all of Judea and Samaria starting today," Netanyahu said, using the biblical name for the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
He added that troops were "carrying out stepped-up operations to thwart terrorist activities and are conducting large-scale waves of arrests".
The military said it had "launched offensive counter-terrorism operations in the Hebron area", adding that troops were raiding homes of the suspects and others.
Hamas praises attack
Israeli National Security Minister and far-right firebrand Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been rising in the polls, called for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to be dismantled because of the attack.
"The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarised, and its terror infrastructure wiped out completely," he said in a statement.
No evidence suggests that the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was connected to Friday's attack.
Hamas, which is based in Gaza and carried out the October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, hailed what it called an "exceptional heroic operation" near Hebron and mourned the two dead assailants, without claiming responsibility.
The attack is a "natural and legitimate response to the ongoing crimes and brutal attacks against our people", Hamas, the rival of the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah faction, said in a statement.
Netanyahu in his statement vowed to "pursue Hamas terrorists" everywhere, adding: "You have no place to hide."
Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who is Netanyahu's top rival in the election, praised the response by troops.
"Like all Israelis, I pray for the complete and quick recovery of the injured," he said.
The incident comes as tensions soar in the West Bank, including over attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian olive harvesters, and days ahead of Israeli elections.
According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 1,113 Palestinians in the territory since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations during the same period.