Two Israeli Soldiers Die Stopping a Planned Highway Massacre Near Hebron, and Netanyahu Seals the City

Two Israeli soldiers were killed Friday morning when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an army checkpoint at Yehuda Junction, just outside the city of Hebron in the West Bank, the area Israelis call Judea and Samaria. Three more soldiers were lightly wounded before troops shot both attackers dead (AP; Ynet).

Israel says the checkpoint was not the real target. The army believes the gunmen were heading for a much bigger attack on Route 35, a busy civilian highway nearby, and opened fire on the soldiers only after they ran into the checkpoint (BBC). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas and sealed off Hebron, a city of about 200,000, four days before Israelis vote in a national election.

Who they were

The army named the fallen as Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, of Ashkelon, a squad commander, and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, of Hod Hasharon. Both served in the Ari Battalion of the Home Front Command's Search and Rescue Brigade (Ynet).

The first call came in around 7:15 a.m., Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said (NBC News). Video verified by the BBC shows two men climbing out of a car with what appears to be a rifle and a handgun and opening fire on the soldiers, who fired back in an intense gun battle (BBC). Israeli media identified the gunmen as Hamouda and Firas Jua'ba, both 27 and both from Hebron (Algemeiner).

Inside their car, soldiers found a large stash of ammunition (BBC). Think of the checkpoint as a locked front door: the gunmen planned to walk into a crowded house, hit the door instead, and the soldiers standing there paid with their lives so the people inside didn't have to.

"A grave terror attack against Israeli civilians was thwarted," said Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, head of the army's Central Command. "Unfortunately, we paid a heavy price during the encounter, and two combat soldiers fell in battle" (Algemeiner).

Netanyahu: "You have nowhere to hide"

After an emergency meeting with his defense minister, army chief and security heads, Netanyahu said "Hamas terrorists were planning a major attack aimed at murdering innocent civilians, as evidenced by the large quantities of weapons and ammunition discovered." He ordered Hebron cordoned off and "extensive waves of arrests," and warned: "We will pursue Hamas terrorists and those who sent them, wherever they are and at all times. You have nowhere to hide" (Prime Minister's Office).

Hamas did not claim the attack, but it cheered it. The group called the shooting a "heroic operation" and called for more (Times of Israel).

Speaking from the scene later, Netanyahu said the army would "demolish this place and completely transform it," pointing to the Hebron neighborhood the gunmen came from. He said he had reviewed plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank in decades and put a cordon around Hebron and nearby Halhul (BBC). Soldiers will go "house to house" and destroy "terrorist infrastructure," he said, while "infrastructure for settlement" is built (NBC News).

By Friday night the army said it had launched a "targeted & limited counterterrorism operation" in the Hebron area, with residents able to leave through three exit points after security screening (IDF). It also said forces had arrested about 70 wanted men in the past week, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, and seized M16 rifles, Carlo submachine guns and explosive devices (IDF).

"Will the media give this as much coverage?"

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee praised the troops and took a shot at the press. "The Palestinian terror attack this morning would have been an even worse catastrophic event had the @IDF not acted so quickly," he wrote. "Will the media give this as much coverage as when olive pickers get detained for failing to report their activities?"

He had a point. The United Nations said within hours that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "extremely alarmed" by the West Bank violence and "deeply concerned" about Israel's closures and demolitions (UN News). Two murdered soldiers were a line in that statement. The closures were the headline.

Four days before the vote

The attack lands in the final stretch of a tight race. Israelis vote Tuesday, Oct. 27, and Netanyahu's Likud canceled its Friday morning campaign events (BBC). Netanyahu had been warning of an attack before the election. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused opposition leaders of undermining the government by criticizing those warnings, and said they would be "responsible" for any attack (BBC).

His rivals closed ranks on Friday. Opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett offered condolences to the soldiers' families and praised the troops who killed the gunmen. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, calling for a campaign in the West Bank "exactly like in Gaza or Lebanon" (BBC).

What happens next

Hebron stays sealed, and Netanyahu ordered the army to prepare a closure of the entire West Bank, with restrictions expected to last at least through Tuesday's vote (NBC News; Algemeiner). The arrest raids continue. And Israel is hunting for whoever armed two gunmen and sent them toward a highway full of civilians.