Israel launches military operation in Hebron after 2 soldiers killed

Israeli forces launched a military operation in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday night, hours after Israeli leaders vowed to displace residents and carry out demolitions following a shooting attack near the city that killed two Israeli soldiers, reported Xinhua.

In a joint statement, the Israeli military and Shin Bet domestic security agency said the operation is expected to continue for "several days" and is targeting an area of Hebron from which the two Palestinian gunmen who carried out the attack had come.

The statement said the operation was aimed at locating and dismantling "terrorist infrastructure," seizing weapons and questioning suspects.

"The operation is targeted and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated," it said, adding that residents would be allowed "to leave through three designated exit points" after undergoing questioning and security screening.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to extend the military's tactics in the Jenin refugee camp to Hebron.

"The entire neighborhood in Hebron" from which the gunmen emerged "will be evacuated of its residents," Katz wrote on social media platform X, pledging to dismantle "terrorist infrastructure." "As in Gaza, as in Lebanon," he added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed to expand military operations and demolitions in Hebron, four days before Israel's parliamentary election.

The operation followed a shooting near Hebron in which two Israeli soldiers were killed and three others wounded. Israeli forces shot dead the two Palestinian shooters.