Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israelis in the West Bank on Friday, the Israeli military said, just four days before Israel’s national elections and against the backdrop of a broader uptick in violence in the occupied territory.
Five people were wounded in the attack, near the city of Hebron, including two who were in critical condition, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s ambulance service. The Israeli military said its soldiers had killed two of the assailants.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, said that “the troops’ swift action prevented an even more serious attack and further harm to civilians and security forces.”
Hours after the shooting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel ordered security forces to cordon off Hebron, the most populous city in the West Bank, and to prepare for a “lockdown” of the territory starting on Friday. He added that security forces were conducting extensive arrests.
Soldiers and police officers have launched “offensive counterterrorism operations in the Hebron area,” the military said. It added that soldiers were operating in the homes of the assailants and other suspects.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. Israeli forces have conducted sweeping military raids, saying they are seeking to root out Palestinian armed groups, displacing tens of thousands of people.
Palestinian gunmen have in the past conducted shootings and stabbings against Israel civilians and soldiers. Extremist settlers have carried out attacks on Palestinians, setting mosques and homes ablaze, stealing livestock and cutting down olive trees. That aggression has forced entire Palestinian communities to flee.
Hamas praised the attack on Friday as a “heroic operation,” but it stopped short of taking credit.
The militant group also called on Palestinians bearing weapons to shoot “bullets at the chest of the occupiers, their soldiers and their criminal settlers.”
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting to this article.
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