Netanyahu orders sweeping West Bank operation after shooting near Hebron
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans for a major military operation in the occupied West Bank following a shooting near Hebron on Friday that left five Israelis wounded, including two seriously.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces would conduct house-to-house searches in Hebron, evacuate residents and destroy what he described as terrorist infrastructure.
“We will evacuate the residents, we will go house by house, we will also remove the weapons there, and all terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed,” he said.
The prime minister also announced a military cordon around Hebron and Halhul, warning that similar operations could be extended to other Palestinian cities.
He described the planned offensive as an exceptionally broad Israeli military operation in the West Bank, comparing its scale to operations during the 1967 Six-Day War.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
A wake-up call: The countdown for Latin American democracy — Opinion
Netanyahu also praised Israeli settlers and pledged to expand settlements alongside the military campaign.
“We are going to destroy terrorist infrastructure and we are going to build settlement infrastructure,” he declared, referring to more than 100 settlements being built or regularised.
The announcement followed a shooting on Route 35 near Hebron, where Israeli forces said they killed two Palestinian gunmen.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
