Israel's military has launched an operation in the occupied West Bank after gunmen killed two IDF soldiers days ahead of the country's elections.
asserted
gunmen → launch → elections
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is locked in a tight race to keep his job in Tuesday's vote, having campaigned on promises to keep Israelis safe, and he and his right-wing allies visited the scene of the attack to pledge an even harder line on West Bank militancy.
asserted
he → lock → militancy
Security forces were searching targets and questioning suspects to 'locate and dismantle terrorist infrastructure' in the Hebron area from where they said the attackers had emerged, according to a joint statement from the Israeli military and Shin Bet domestic security agency.
uncertain
attackers → search → military
Forces were also 'demolishing illegal structures that could pose a security threat at the site of the encounter', they said, adding that 'counterterrorism operations' were underway at dozens of locations.
uncertain
operations → demolish → locations
The operation 'is expected to continue for several days,' the statement, released late on Friday, said.
asserted
statement → expect → Friday
Militant group Hamas, without claiming responsibility, praised Friday's fatal attack on two Israeli soldiers as a 'heroic operation' and called on supporters to carry out more.
asserted
Hamas → claim → more
A Hebron-based AFP photographer heading to another assignment witnessed the gun battle break out at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint between the soldiers and two Palestinian men armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle.
asserted
battle → base → handgun
Israeli forces eventually shot dead the attackers.
asserted
forces → shoot → attackers
Israel's military has launched an operation in the occupied West Bank after gunmen killed two IDF soldiers
Palestinians cross on foot past a military gate closed to vehicles during an Israeli army operation in Hebron in the occupied West Bank Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, a day after a Palestinian shooting attack in the area
Israeli forces raid homes belonging to the al-Jaaba family following a shooting attack at a military checkpoint at the entrance to Hebron in the occupied West Bank
Netanyahu credited the soldiers with having 'prevented what could have been a major attack', and ordered a lockdown in the West Bank.
uncertain
what → launch → Bank
Visiting Hebron, the premier said he and Defence Minister Israel Katz were 'considering a very extensive IDF operation in Judea and Samaria, such as has not been carried out since' the 1967 war.
asserted
he → visit → war
The first step would see Israeli forces 'enter the neighbourhood from which the terrorists came, evacuate the residents, go from house to house, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure,' he said.
asserted
he → see → infrastructure
The military would apply a model previously used in refugee camps in the northern West Bank, he said, the scene of a large-scale operation launched in January 2025 that the United Nations said forcibly displaced thousands.
asserted
Nations → apply → thousands
Israeli rights group B'Tselem called for urgent international pressure to prevent Israel from 'plans for collective punishment and acts that could constitute war crimes'.
uncertain
that → call → crimes
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres through a spokesman voiced concern over Israeli closures that affect Palestinian livelihoods and called for a halt to violence on all sides.
asserted
that → voice → sides
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position within the defence ministry, called for a large-scale military offensive in the West Bank 'exactly like in Gaza'.
asserted
who → hold → Gaza
He said authorities were 'sending an unequivocal message to our enemies: if you mess with the Jews, you will pay a very painful price.'
asserted
you → say → price
Israeli armored vehicles raid the city as the Israeli army restricts Palestinian movement by closing all entrances and exits to city
sraeli forces demolish a Palestinian residential building in the Farsh al-Hawa area of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, October 23
Israeli forces seal off all entrances and exits of the city of Hebron
National Security Minister and far-right firebrand Itamar Ben Gvir said the Ramallah-based 'Palestinian Authority must be dismantled'.
asserted
Authority → raid → Hebron
'It is impossible for there to be an authority within Judea and Samaria that incites murder, calls for murder, and works for murder,' he told reporters.
asserted
he → incite → reporters
No evidence suggests that the Palestinian Authority - which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank - was connected to Friday's attack.
uncertain
which → suggest → attack
Both Ben Gvir and Smotrich are especially vocal champions of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have proliferated under Netanyahu's government but are illegal under international law.
asserted
which → proliferate → law
Netanyahu vowed to 'pursue Hamas terrorists' everywhere, adding: 'You have no place to hide.'
asserted
You → vow → place
Israel vowed to obliterate the group in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack that resulted in 1,221 deaths, according to an AFP tally from official Israeli figures, in what was the deadliest day in the country's history.
uncertain
what → vow → history
Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who is Netanyahu's top rival in the upcoming vote, said he was praying for soldiers wounded in Friday's shooting.
asserted
he → say → shooting
The operation comes as tensions soar in the West Bank, including over attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian olive harvesters.
asserted
tensions → come → harvesters
According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,117 Palestinians in the territory since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
uncertain
forces → accord → October
Israeli figures show at least 51 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations during the same period.
asserted
Israelis → show → period
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