Netanyahu warns of unprecedented offensive unseen since 1967 in occupied West Bank

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of a major offensive in the occupied West Bank, on a scale unseen since Israel first occupied the Palestinian territory in 1967, after two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians were killed in an exchange of fire near a checkpoint in Hebron. The Israeli Prime Minister has ordered a full closure of the occupied West Bank and said that IDF would go house to house and demolish homes in Hebron.

“I have reviewed a very extensive operation in the West Bank that will be unprecedented since ’67, and we will choose the timing of its implementation,” Netanyahu said.

"Our first step will be to demolish this site and completely transform it," Netanyahu said.

"The IDF will enter the neighbourhoods from which the terrorists emerged, evacuate the residents, go house-to-house, and dismantle the terror infrastructure. We are prepared for an extensive operation in Judea and Samaria," he said, using Israel's name for the West Bank.

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The security crisis and Netanyahu's declaration come just four days before Israel's parliamentary elections.

Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister, called for a military campaign in the occupied West Bank and to turn it “exactly like in Gaza”. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, said that the Palestinian Authority should be dismantled.

“There is no other option but a comprehensive military campaign to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, collect weapons and eliminate terrorists. Exactly like in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Smotrich. Bezalel Smotrich said that demolitions will target illegal structures that were built without a permit. However, according to a human rights group, the Israeli Civil Administration rejects approximately 95% of Palestinian building permit applications in Area C, so most of the constructions are without permit.

After Netanyahu's statement, the IDF entered the Farsh al-Hawa neighbourhood. Video footage verified by international news networks shows armed soldiers giving residents of housing complexes as little as five minutes to evacuate before these demolitions started.