Netanyahu Orders Hebron Evacuations and West Bank Sweeps After Two Troops Killed

Two Israeli soldiers are dead after a shooting near Hebron.

The Israeli military said gunmen opened fire Friday at a junction close to the city and were killed by forces at the scene. The army identified the dead as Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem. Three other soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he had ordered a major military operation in the West Bank and told troops to seal off Hebron. The military said a large cache of weapons and ammunition was recovered from the attackers' vehicle, which the army said suggested plans for a larger assault on civilians. The shooters carried an M16 rifle and a handgun, according to the army.

Netanyahu also ordered residents out of the Hebron neighborhood where the gunmen lived so troops could search houses for weapons. He said the site would be demolished. Hebron holds more than 200,000 residents. The prime minister said the IDF would move into the neighborhoods where the attackers came from, clear residents out, and search door to door to break up what he called terror infrastructure. He described the gunmen as Hamas terrorists. Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel designate as a terrorist group, called the attack heroic but did not claim it. The group urged armed Palestinians in the West Bank to strike Israeli soldiers and civilians.

The military said offensive counterterrorism operations were under way around Hebron and that soldiers were inside the homes of the attackers and other suspects. It also said troops had detained around 70 wanted Palestinians in West Bank operations over the past week. Netanyahu said the shooting was an attempt to sway the vote, pointing to a warning he gave weeks earlier that Israel's foes were preparing attacks to affect the election. Likud, his party, said he met senior security chiefs Friday and dropped campaign events for the rest of the day.

The shooting came days ahead of Tuesday's Israeli election, in which Netanyahu has put national security at the center of his campaign for another term. Violence has risen in the West Bank in recent weeks. Brad Lander, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York, was held briefly by Israeli forces earlier this week while accompanying Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest.