Hebron Shooting: Four Days to Election, Netanyahu Locks Down

Palestinian gunmen wounded five Israelis in their 20s near Yehuda (Judea) Junction southeast of Hebron on Friday morning. Within hours, a city of about 250,000 people was sealed shut. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a cordon around Hebron and a full lockdown of the West Bank, four days before Israel's national election on Tuesday, October 27. Nobody in Hebron held a gun. Nearly everyone in Hebron got the cordon.

The two attackers, identified by the IDF as Hamas affiliates, are dead. Ynetnews named them as Hamouda Wael Mohammed Jaaba and his relative Firas Samir Mohammed Jaaba, both 27, both from Hebron, both married with two children. An AFP journalist watched the gunbattle at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint and saw two men with a handgun and an automatic rifle trade fire with soldiers. Their bodies lay next to a petrol station. The fight lasted more than 20 minutes. Medical responder Ofer Ohana, filming from the scene, shouted: "We can't evacuate the wounded! There's been active gunfire for more than 20 minutes!"

The wounded came out in pieces of paperwork as much as bodies. Magen David Adom said two were critical, two moderate, one light. Ynetnews later reported two had died, while other outlets still counted five wounded. Early coverage had them as two wounded, then as soldiers, then as six. AFP and Ynetnews said they weren't soldiers at all. Everyone had a number, and the numbers didn't match.

The State's Monopoly

The response arrived faster than the ambulances finished their runs. Netanyahu said he ordered the IDF "to impose an immediate cordon on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full lockdown of all of Judea and Samaria starting today." Israel barred entry and exit for Hebron and Halhul. Central Command introduced a procedure called "Gray Bolt," forcing checks of Palestinian vehicles on major roads and extending it to the Jenin, Nablus and Jericho sectors.

Then came the homes. The IDF said it was mapping the attackers' houses for sealing and eventual demolition after legal proceedings. Netanyahu, per his office, said forces "will enter the neighbourhood from which the terrorists came, evacuate the residents, go from house to house, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure." He added that the Hebron model could be expanded to other cities, and promised an operation "on a scale not seen since the Six-Day War." He said the timing was his to choose: "it is coming."

A lockdown announced four days before a vote is a campaign event with checkpoints. Netanyahu canceled all Likud events Friday, then visited the Hebron area himself. Defense Minister Israel Katz said a day earlier that opposition leaders Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett and Yair Golan would bear responsibility for any future attack. Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's top rival, praised the troops. Avigdor Liberman asked how many more attacks Israelis must absorb before ending "containment." Ofer Winter said cordons and demolishing "a few square meters" weren't enough. Every candidate bid in the same currency.

Both Sides of the Same Coin

Hamas hailed what it called an "exceptional heroic operation" and mourned the two dead men without claiming responsibility, calling it a "natural and legitimate response to the ongoing crimes and brutal attacks against our people." Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine praised it too, per Al Jazeera. The factions that fight for the right to administer a Palestinian state celebrated two men who left behind four children between them. The IDF and Shin Bet are still examining whether the pair was a self-contained cell or tied to a larger one.

Itamar Ben-Gvir used the day to demand the Palestinian Authority be "dismantled and demilitarized." AFP noted there was no evidence the PA was connected to the attack. Ben-Gvir went to the scene and said he didn't want barriers and cordons removed so locals could return to normal life: "As long as there's terror, they should not be able to live as normal." Bezalel Smotrich called for a campaign "exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon" and said it would be among the first demands of the next government. His party said he ordered demolition of several Palestinian buildings near the attack site, taking effect throughout Friday.

Who Gets Crushed

The day before the attack, Al Jazeera reported Israeli forces arrested 36 Palestinians in West Bank raids, including 14 in Khirbet Jawaya in Masafer Yatta. The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission documented 17 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers on Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest that same Thursday. US congressional candidate Brad Lander was briefly detained Wednesday while volunteering in that harvest. Friday's lockdown landed on a population already being raided and harassed in its own groves.

AFP's tally from Palestinian health ministry data says Israeli forces or settlers have killed 1,113 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023. Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks or military operations in that period. That's the fourth year since the Gaza war began, and the ledger keeps growing in both columns.

The Ari Battalion's commander, Lt. Col. L., said his soldiers "demonstrated the importance of their mission and their operational readiness" in their first operational deployment. The battalion started that deployment this week. Zamir said the mission was to ensure elections occur "on schedule and safely." Hebron's 250,000 residents weren't consulted on the schedule.