Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a “full lockdown” of the occupied West Bank on Friday after Israel’s military said it killed two Palestinians accused of launching an attack that injured five people near the city of Hebron.The deadly incident comes just days before a crucial election that will decide whether Netanyahu can hold on to power.
There has been a recent surge in Israeli settler violence and military activity in the West Bank centered on the start of the olive harvesting season, with Palestinians, activists and American journalists among those attacked and detained.A smoldering olive tree reportedly set alight by Israeli settlers, near the village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank, on Oct.
16.Ahmad Gharabli / AFP via GettyNetanyahu’s office said said it instructed the Israel Defense Forces to “impose a closure” on Hebron and to prepare for a “full lockdown” across the entire West Bank starting Friday.The order came hours after the Israeli military said it had killed two people after a shooting attack in which at least five people were reported injured.
It said it was continuing to search the area.Israeli soldiers and emergency personnel near the scene of the shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday.Mahmoud Illean / APMagen David Adom, Israel’s primary emergency service, said it received a report at around 7.15 a.m.
local time (12.15 a.m.ET) of multiple casualties following the attack near the Yehuda Junction, near Hebron.
It said first responders had provided medical treatment to at least five people, including two in critical condition.The identities of the two people alleged to have launched the attack and who were killed by Israeli forces was not immediately clear as of late Friday morning.
The lockdown comes ahead of next week’s Israeli election, which is largely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership around the Hamas-led Oct.7, 2023 attacks.
Netanyahu has focused much of campaign in the...