The IDF will apply a more aggressive counterterrorism model in Hebron and is prepared for a much broader operation across Judea and Samaria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the area on Friday following a terrorist shooting that killed two IDF soldiers and wounded three others.
“We are going to implement the successful and aggressive model that we used in the refugee camps, which are essentially terrorist strongholds,” Netanyahu said.
“That is exactly what we will do here, inside a neighborhood in Hebron from which the terrorists came,” he continued. “We will evacuate the residents, we will go house to house, remove the weapons there, and all terrorist infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed.”
Netanyahu said Israel would consider expanding the model to other cities in Judea and Samaria and would accelerate the demolition of illegal structures along roads that pose a threat to Israeli forces.
The prime minister said the IDF was also prepared for a large-scale operation throughout Judea and Samaria.
“The defense minister and I have seen plans for a very extensive IDF operation in Judea and Samaria, the likes of which have not been carried out since the Six-Day War,” Netanyahu said. “The IDF is ready to carry it out, and we will determine the timing, but it is on the way.”
Netanyahu said Israel had warned several weeks ago of attempts by its enemies to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers ahead of the Oct. 27 election.
“That is what they tried to do here,” he said. “IDF soldiers stopped it with their bodies and were also wounded. The soldiers not only stopped the terrorists, but charged them heroically and eliminated them.”
Five Israeli soldiers were shot in Friday morning’s terrorist attack near the Yehuda Junction in the Hebron area. Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, of Ashkelon, and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, of Hod Hasharon, were killed, while three other soldiers were wounded. Two Palestinian terrorists were killed by IDF troops after a prolonged firefight.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces had imposed cordons on Hebron and nearby Halhul after the attack.
“We are going to destroy the terrorist infrastructure, and we are going to build the infrastructure of settlement,” he said, citing more than 100 communities and more than 100 farms being established or regularized.
Earlier Friday morning, Netanyahu visited Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market as part of his election campaign, greeting shoppers and vendors as he toured the crowded market accompanied by security personnel. He cut short the visit and left the scene immediately after being briefed about the terrorist attack near Hebron.
