Netanyahu Orders West Bank Operation on 1967 Scale After Checkpoint Killings

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a major military operation in the West Bank on Thursday, stating it will occur on a scale not seen since the Six-Day War. The declaration followed a deadly attack at an Israeli checkpoint near Hebron that left two soldiers dead and three others wounded. Speaking from the site of the incident, Netanyahu vowed to change the area completely by demolishing structures in the vicinity.

Israeli military bulldozers began flattening homes in the neighborhood near the shooting site on Friday afternoon. The operation is displacing hundreds of Palestinian residents. This action mirrors last year's assault on two refugee camps in the northern West Bank, which displaced tens of thousands of people. Human Rights Watch characterized those previous expulsions as war crimes, a charge Israel rejects.

The Israeli military explained that its soldiers were positioned behind concrete barriers when two gunmen opened fire. The resulting firefight lasted approximately 20 minutes until soldiers killed the attackers. B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, called on foreign governments to intervene to prevent another wave of ethnic cleansing and war crimes.

The violence occurs amid a surge in land seizures by Israeli settlers and widespread closures in Hebron, the most populous city in the occupied West Bank. The United Nations Human Rights Office for the occupied Palestinian territory has described the current situation as a new level of dehumanization. Israel maintains control over movement in the territory using 925 checkpoints, roadblocks, and earth mounds.

Political analysts link the scale of the response to the national elections scheduled for October 27. Current polls show Netanyahu and his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, running neck and neck. Neither candidate currently holds enough support to form a government. Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noted that Netanyahu is positioning himself as the security candidate. He said Netanyahu will take harsh measures to demonstrate to the Israeli public that he is defending them.

Citrinowicz described the eviction of families from the attackers' neighborhood, where there is no evidence linking them to the gunmen, as collective punishment. He urged authorities to arrest those who plan attacks while supporting those who want to live peacefully. He emphasized that stability requires a working economy and basic needs rather than punitive measures.