Israel Expands West Bank Operation Days Before Election After Hebron Shooting Kills Two Soldiers

On Saturday morning the streets of Deir Bahha, a neighborhood on the edge of Hebron, were empty except for two Israeli military vehicles. Overnight, forces had warned residents to evacuate. This was the neighborhood of the two Palestinian gunmen who, a day earlier, killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others in Hebron, the largest city in the occupied West Bank.

Israel carried on with a major military operation across West Bank cities, with arrests and demolitions. It was most sweeping around Hebron, where hundreds of families fled. Troops took positions throughout the city and sealed it off from the rest of the territory for a second day, closing gates and checkpoints to Palestinian drivers.

Fahed Ahmro, a 51-year-old city worker, was woken by loudspeaker warnings and sirens and went to a relative's home. He said he had lived through military raids before. Earlier evacuation orders lasted minutes or hours, he said, while soldiers searched homes and then residents came back. This time, he said, entire neighborhoods were being emptied, and he did not know whether his family could return. "It's a very difficult situation," he said.

The military said it found weapons in the gunmen's car and that the two were likely planning to attack Israeli civilians before they were stopped at a checkpoint. On Friday it said troops were conducting "precise, targeted and thorough searches" in the area where the gunmen had operated.

The two soldiers brought the number of Israelis killed in the West Bank this year to six. Over the same period, 112 Palestinians have been killed, a count that includes the suspected gunmen, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.

The attack set off anger among Israeli politicians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and three members of his right-wing government visited the site and promised a forceful response. Netanyahu said he had warned weeks earlier of attempts by Israel's enemies to harm citizens and soldiers ahead of the election, and added: "We will act to destroy this place."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted a statement on X while standing before a bulldozer near the shootout site. He promised to tear down Palestinian buildings in the area that were built without permits, though he did not claim the owners were connected to the gunmen. "We will remove quite a few buildings," he said, adding that attacks on Israeli citizens carry "a very heavy price" and that "this is just the beginning." National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Defense Minister Israel Katz made similar pledges at the scene. All three are ministers in Netanyahu's government, and projecting strength on security is central to their campaigns for Tuesday's election.

Amjad Iraqi, senior analyst for Israel and the Palestinian territories at the International Crisis Group, said the promises reflect politicians competing to look tough on Palestinians before the vote, and that Israel's right wing has long stressed security threats to make its case for staying in power. "For a lot of the far right, every attack is an opportunity to project strength, send a message and reassure settlers that the state will protect them and advance their goals," he said.

Roughly 3 million Palestinians and 540,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel took in the 1967 Mideast war. Hebron is among its most tense cities, and the only one where Jewish settlers live in the heart of a densely populated Palestinian area under Israeli military protection. With the election on Tuesday, the question is whether the operation and the promised demolitions widen before voters go to the polls.