Israel has ordered the immediate closure of the West Bank city of Hebron and instructed its armed forces to prepare to seal off the entire territory, after a shooting attack that left five people wounded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the security services to impose the closure on Hebron and to ready a full lockdown of the whole of the West Bank from October 23. He used the term Judea and Samaria, the biblical name Israeli officials apply to the territory.
The order followed a gun attack at a junction near Hebron on the morning of October 23. Five people were wounded, two of them critically, according to Israeli emergency services.
Israeli troops shot dead the two assailants at a checkpoint on the northern edge of the city. Army Radio reported that both were 27-year-old residents of Hebron and members of the same family.
Netanyahu said security forces would pursue Hamas operatives and those who dispatched them, and that the army was preparing waves of arrests. He gave no indication of how long the measures would last.
National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the attack showed that what he called a terrorist state could not be tolerated in the territory. He renewed his demand that the Palestinian Authority be dismantled.
Netanyahu cancelled his party’s campaign events for the day. Israelis vote in a general election on October 27, a contest fought largely on security.
The closure comes days after the European Union demanded accountability from the Israeli Government over settler violence. Masked settlers attacked a convoy carrying Belgian, French and Polish diplomats near the village of Taybeh on October 17 and beat a visiting French mayor.
The European External Action Service said on October 18 that the bloc “strongly condemns” the attacks and expected effective measures to prevent further violence against Palestinians and journalists. Israeli ministers condemned the assault and the police opened an investigation.
European governments have protested repeatedly over incidents in the territory. In January Italy summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome after two of its military police officers were threatened at gunpoint in the West Bank.
In May the EU agreed its first sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, together with further listings of Hamas figures, after Hungary’s new government dropped the veto that had blocked the package. Israel called the decision arbitrary and political.
A full closure would prevent Palestinians from leaving the territory, including those who hold Israeli work permits. Brussels has so far gone no further than listing individuals and entities, with no majority among member states for broader measures against Israel.
