Israel says it will demolish homes and go house to house as army prepares for biggest West Bank operation in decades

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday Israel would lock down Hebron in the occupied West Bank, go house to house and demolish homes after the Israeli military said Palestinian attackers killed two soldiers at a military checkpoint near the city.

The Israeli military said it had killed two attackers, and another three soldiers had been lightly wounded in the attack.

"We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely," Netanyahu said in a statement after the attack.

A Reuters reporter documented Israeli bulldozers beginning to demolish homes in Hebron near the site of the shooting. Local residents said the homes had no connection to the attackers.

The demolitions began after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on social media that he had ordered the immediate demolition of Palestinian buildings near the attack site.

Netanyahu also said he would launch a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, where Israeli forces regularly raid Palestinian cities and towns.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and for all Palestinians in the West Bank to be banned from traveling by road.

The violence took place before an Israeli election next week in which Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition have campaigned for expanding Israeli settlements and against the formation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz both compared the Hebron operation to the mass demolitions Israel carried out in Palestinian refugee camps in 2025, expelling tens of thousands of people.

Human Rights Watch later issued a report saying the mass expulsions amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel said in response to the report that it needed to demolish civilian infrastructure so that it could not be exploited by militants. It did not say when residents could return.

The Hebron attack comes in an atmosphere of increasing tension in the West Bank as Israeli settler violence has surged in recent weeks.

In his speech following the attack, Netanyahu praised Israeli settlers in the West Bank, calling them "heroic" and saying they were "standing in the breach."

Netanyahu has presided over a rapid expansion of settlements. UN bodies and most countries deem Israel's settlements on land occupied in war illegal under international law regarding military occupations. Israel rejects this, viewing the territory as disputed rather than occupied.