Middle East — 2026-10-24

Netanyahu Orders Large-Scale West Bank Operation After Hebron Attack Kills Two Soldiers

BLUFNetanyahu's visible Hebron cordon serves his election-week security posture, but a declared large-scale West Bank operation beyond that cordon is unlikely by November 7 absent another mass-casualty trigger.

Two Palestinian gunmen killed Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem and lightly wounded three other soldiers at a checkpoint near Hebron on Friday, and Israeli forces then shot both attackers dead, the IDF said 12. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said ammunition found in the attackers' vehicle was meant for a much larger attack 2. Netanyahu called the gunmen "Hamas terrorists"; Hamas praised the attack but did not claim it 12. Netanyahu ordered a cordon around Hebron and Halhul and said an extensive West Bank operation was prepared, after first announcing a full West Bank closure that CNN reported he later scaled back 23. Forces began demolitions and evacuations in Hebron's Farsh al-Hawa area, where a soldier gave residents five minutes to leave, according to CNN video 2.

Analysis
Israel will keep a Hebron and Halhul cordon, with demolitions and evacuations, through Tuesday's election, since Netanyahu has tied his security credentials to visible escalation. A declared large-scale, multi-day West Bank operation beyond the Hebron and Halhul cordon is unlikely to launch by November 7. Confidence is high, resting on consistent reporting from four outlets, three of them primary, on the cordon, the scaled-back closure and the operation's confinement to the attackers' area. Netanyahu's phrasing, "we will decide when the time is right," holds the wider operation in reserve as a threat, and the campaign gains from that ambiguity. His "scale not seen since the Six-Day War" language may instead be an election-week signal to voters, with the operation already limited to the Hebron measures under way. A further mass-casualty attack before the vote would remove that restraint and could bring the wider operation forward. If it launches, Palestinian Authority security coordination, humanitarian agencies and reserve call-up planners must shift to a multi-city displacement scenario. If it does not, planning can focus on localized demolitions and evacuations.

4 sources