Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a total closure of the occupied West Bank on Friday (23) and announced a "broad operation" in the territory, hours after a shooting attack killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others at a checkpoint at the entrance to Hebron. The two gunmen, identified as Palestinians by the military, were killed in a firefight that lasted at least 20 minutes, according to footage verified by Reuters and the BBC.
In a statement, Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will apply in Palestinian cities the "aggressive" model already used in refugee camps, with house-to-house searches and the evacuation of residents. The cities of Hebron and Halhul will be sealed off, buildings deemed illegal along the roads will be demolished "at an accelerated pace" and Israeli settlements will be expanded. There is still no exact start date for the closure or a timeline for lifting it, CNN Brasil reported.
"The IDF will enter the neighborhoods the terrorists came from, evacuate the residents, go house to house and destroy the terrorist infrastructure. We are prepared for a broad operation in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu said, using the biblical name his government gives to the West Bank.
The episode also reaches Brasilia. Brazil recognizes the State of Palestine and has sharpened its criticism of Israel's military conduct: at the most recent United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the Brazilian delegation walked out of the hall during Netanyahu's speech, alongside other countries, as CNN Brasil reported at the time. A prolonged offensive in the West Bank is likely to deepen Israel's diplomatic isolation and pressure governments like Brazil's to take positions in international forums.
The interests at play
The announcement maps out the forces in the conflict at a sensitive moment. On one side, Netanyahu's far-right allies push to go further: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a campaign in the West Bank "exactly like the ones in Gaza or Lebanon" and ordered the demolition of Palestinian buildings near the attack site; National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir urged dismantling the Palestinian Authority, the body that administers parts of the territory. On the other, Hamas praised the attack without claiming it, while Israeli opposition leaders such as Gadi Eisenkot and former prime minister Naftali Bennett offered condolences to the victims and praised the soldiers. IDF chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the ammunition found in the attackers' car would have been used "to carry out an attack on a much larger scale", possibly on the nearby Route 35.
Election and settlements
The attack came four days before Israel's general election, set for Tuesday (27), the first since the Hamas-led assault of October 7, 2023. Netanyahu, running for reelection, built his campaign around security, canceled his Likud party's events on Friday and visited the attack site in the afternoon, promising "extensive actions". According to Folha de S.Paulo, he pledged an offensive "not seen since the Six-Day War", the 1967 conflict in which Israel occupied the West Bank.
The plan to expand settlements, considered illegal by the international community, crowns an expansion already under way: since Netanyahu returned to power in December 2022, 267 outposts have been created and 104 more legalized, according to CNN reporting. The UN counts at least 96 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of the year, a period in which four Israelis, civilians and soldiers, were killed by Palestinians. Tension had been rising for weeks with settler attacks on Palestinians during the annual olive harvest.