Israel locked down the West Bank on Friday after two soldiers were killed at a checkpoint near Hebron, launching a days-long operation with mass arrests and building demolitions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the lockdown and promised house-to-house searches and what he called the largest operation since 1967, days before Tuesday's election where security dominates and his job is at stake. The operation comes as Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 1,100 Palestinians since October 2023.
Two Israeli soldiers died and two suspected Palestinian gunmen were shot dead in the shooting at the checkpoint on Friday. The military and Shin Bet said in a joint statement that they were searching targets and questioning suspects across the Hebron area in an effort to locate and dismantle what they described as terrorist infrastructure from which the attackers originated. Counterterrorism operations were under way at dozens of locations.
We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely
Netanyahu said Israeli troops would sweep through the Hebron neighbourhood where the suspected attackers came from, evacuate residents and destroy what he called terrorist infrastructure. He also said troops would conduct extensive waves of arrests during the lockdown and hunt down Hamas fighters in all locations and at any moment.
Netanyahu said he and Defence Minister Israel Katz were weighing a major operation in the West Bank on a scale not undertaken since the 1967 war.
Raids across the territory
By Saturday morning, Israeli forces had carried out raids in at least 15 towns across the northern West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Tubas and Qalqilya, and arrested dozens of Palestinians. The Hebron municipality told reporters that up to half of the neighbourhood raided overnight had been forcibly displaced, with at least 200 families forced outside their homes. Israeli bulldozers wrecked a three-storey building in Hebron and ordered residents to vacate the Ein Deir Bahha area and surrounding neighbourhoods, affecting hundreds of Palestinian families.
Hebron is sealed off; seven district entrances are closed
Election timing and political context
The operation comes days before Israel's election on Tuesday, in which security is a key issue and Netanyahu is in a tight race to keep his job.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defence ministry overseeing West Bank administration, called for a large-scale offensive in the West Bank. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority should be dismantled and that restrictions on Palestinian movement should be tightened. No evidence suggests the Palestinian Authority, which maintains restricted self-governance across parts of the West Bank, had any involvement in Friday's attack.
Casualty figures and escalation pattern
Deaths since Gaza war began in October 2023
Palestinians killed
Israeli forces and settlers
1,117
Israelis killed
Palestinian attacks and operations
51
International and Palestinian warnings
Israeli rights group B'Tselem warned that the planned offensive constitutes collective punishment and could involve acts amounting to war crimes, and called for urgent international pressure. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern through a spokesman about Israeli closures affecting Palestinian livelihoods and called for a halt to violence on all sides.
The secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, Mustafa Barghouti, said the lockdown was transforming every city and village into a small prison and would lead to explosions.
Hamas, without claiming responsibility, praised Friday's fatal attack on the two soldiers as heroic and called on supporters to mount more attacks.
You have no place to hide.
Displacement and broader context
The Palestinian Authority said in a statement on Saturday that Israeli settler violence and armed forces raids in the West Bank have forcibly displaced over 40,000 citizens from their homes since the beginning of 2025.
The IDF said that weapons found in the attackers' car, specifically a large quantity of ammunition, demonstrated they had been preparing for a mass shooting of Israeli citizens.
What we know
- Mass Arrest Operations: Israeli forces have actively scaled up raids across at least 15 northern towns—including Jenin and Nablus—detaining dozens of Palestinians to clear out suspected infrastructure.
- Evacuations & Home Demolitions: Large-scale operations are already deployed inside Hebron, where bulldozers have begun tearing down multi-story buildings and forcibly displacing hundreds of local residents.
Still unclear
- The total number of Palestinians arrested or displaced across the West Bank so far.
- Whether the West Bank-wide lockdown will be fully enforced or extended beyond the election.
- The full scale and duration of any wider operation beyond the stated several days.
Netanyahu said troops would conduct extensive waves of arrests during the lockdown. The full scope and duration of any wider West Bank operation beyond the stated several days remain unclear.
