Netanyahu Orders West Bank Closure After Judea Junction Attack Wounds Five, Two Gunmen Killed

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to seal off the West Bank on Friday after a shooting attack near the Judea Junction checkpoint wounded five Israelis, two of them critically, and ended in a prolonged firefight in which Israeli troops shot dead the two Palestinian gunmen.

The attack, which struck in the early hours of the morning just four days before Israel's parliamentary elections, set off the most serious security scare of the campaign. Netanyahu cancelled his political events for the day, instructed the Israel Defense Forces to impose a cordon on the city of Hebron, and ordered preparations for a full closure of the entire West Bank beginning Friday, according to official statements and reports from the scene.

Gunfight at the Judea Junction

Two Palestinian men in civilian clothing opened fire with a handgun and an automatic rifle on Israelis near the Judea Junction, also known as the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint, at the northern entrance to Hebron, witnesses said. Soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces stationed at the checkpoint returned fire, and the exchange of gunfire continued for a sustained period before the two assailants were killed.

An AFP journalist at the scene witnessed the firefight and reported that the two lifeless bodies of the attackers lay on the ground next to a petrol station while Israeli troops patrolled in all directions and sealed off the surrounding roads. The military said soldiers had rushed to the area after the initial shooting and were continuing search operations for possible accomplices.

"IDF soldiers eliminated two terrorists and continue searches in the area," the military said in a statement, adding that large numbers of troops had been dispatched to the scene and roadblocks established across the district.

Five Wounded, Two in Critical Condition

Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency medical service, said five people were wounded in the initial shooting, two of them critically. One of the critically injured victims was described as a man in his 20s in "very serious condition" with gunshot wounds, the service said.

The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in Jerusalem and the south, according to emergency officials. The names of the victims had not been released by midday, and hospitals declined to discuss their conditions beyond official updates.

Netanyahu Orders Full West Bank Closure

Hours after the attack, Netanyahu said Israeli troops had prevented what could have been a far larger bloodbath, noting that the assailants had carried a large quantity of ammunition in their vehicle. "I salute the courage of our soldiers who acted with determination and prevented what could have been a major attack," the prime minister said in a statement.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to impose a cordon on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full closure of the entire West Bank beginning Friday, a move that would restrict movement across the territory for days. The closure is expected to remain in force at least until after Tuesday's elections.

The military had already been on heightened alert ahead of the vote. The IDF reinforced its forces in Judea and Samaria with an additional regular brigade in recent days as part of preparations for the election period, officials said. Open-source monitoring groups reported that many checkpoints around Hebron had already been closed by midday.

Election Campaign Upended

The attack landed with explosive force on a tight and volatile election race. Netanyahu, who is running for another term as prime minister in Tuesday's vote, cancelled all political meetings and campaign events on Friday, calling for a halt to electioneering in the wake of the bloodshed.

Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who has emerged as Netanyahu's principal rival in the race, praised the response of the troops at the checkpoint and stopped short of attacking the government over the security lapse.

The most combative reaction came from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right firebrand whose party has been rising in the polls. He called for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to be dismantled in the aftermath of the attack. "The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarized, and its terror infrastructure wiped out completely," Ben Gvir said in a statement.

No evidence has emerged connecting the Palestinian Authority to Friday's attack, and officials have not attributed the shooting to any organized group.

Escalation Against a Regional Backdrop

The shooting came as Israel was already braced for a dangerous period. This week, reports described how Washington and Jerusalem have been drawing up contingency plans for possible strikes on Iran after the American midterm elections.

The backdrop to that planning is the ongoing Hormuz crisis and escalating attacks on commercial shipping and energy infrastructure across the region.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, the regional security picture has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. The Houthi movement in Yemen has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, killing one person and wounding eight in a strike on the King Fahd International Airport near Dammam this week, and the European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution calling on the European Union to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization.

Israeli security officials have warned that the convergence of the election period with these regional tensions raises the risk of further attacks. The army's reinforced deployment in the West Bank, coupled with Friday's closure order, points to an expectation that the Judea Junction shooting may not be an isolated incident.

With polls due to open Tuesday, the attack has already reshaped the final days of the campaign, turning security — the question on which Netanyahu has built much of his political career — into the decisive issue of the closing stretch.