UN alarmed as Israel seals West Bank after Hebron attack kills two soldiers

Israel has imposed a full lockdown across the occupied West Bank after a shooting attack near Hebron killed two soldiers on Friday, drawing alarm from the United Nations and house-to-house raids and demolitions in Hebron, four days before Israel’s national election. (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168660; https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-calls-for-west-bank-lockdown-after-deadly-attack-98d5e3e3)

Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint near Hebron on Friday morning, killing two soldiers and wounding at least three others in a 20-minute firefight before Israeli forces shot the attackers dead, an AFP photographer who witnessed the battle reported. (https://www.thenews.pk/print/1444783-netanyahu-warns-of-west-bank-operation-after-attack-kills-israeli-soldiers)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Hebron sealed and preparations for a full West Bank closure — the fourth territory-wide restriction this month — then visited the scene wearing a bulletproof vest, threatening a military operation “on a scale not seen since” the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Soldiers would go house to house in the attackers’ neighbourhood and destroy what he called terrorist infrastructure. (https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3371912/netanyahu-orders-west-bank-closure-after-deadly-checkpoint-shoot-out)

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “extremely alarmed” by the closures, with spokesman Stéphane Dujarric warning they “severely restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement, access to basic services and livelihoods”. Israeli forces have since arrested at least 15 Palestinians across the West Bank and demolished a three-apartment residential building and several commercial properties in Hebron’s Farsh al-Hawa, while Palestinian officials recorded 21 attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers against olive harvesters, according to the Wafa news agency. (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/liveblog/2026/10/23/trump-hints-new-strikes-says-us-knocked-hell-out-of-iran)

The attack has become an election issue: Netanyahu, trailing in polls ahead of Tuesday’s vote, said the soldiers had “prevented what could have been a major attack”, while his main challenger, retired general Gadi Eisenkot, praised the military. Hamas praised the attack as a “heroic operation” without claiming responsibility.