Just a few days away from Israel's national elections, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a major new military and security operation in the occupied West Bank late Friday into Saturday. It is expected to continue through next week, when Israelis head to the polls.
Mass arrests are being carried out, as well as home and neighborhood demolitions. The action follows a Friday incident where two Palestinian gunmen shot and killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near Hebron.
Getty ImagesThe suspected gunmen were shot dead in the immediate security response, and the West Bank was immediately put on full lock-down, amid Israeli house-to-house searches in the neighborhood where the attackers were believed to be from. The attackers had each reportedly been armed with an M16 rifle and a handgun.
"We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely," Netanyahu said. Already there are reports that family members and relatives of the two shooters have had their homes demolished, with area residents forcibly displaced.
The prime minister said further, "When we win the election, we’ll finish the job. We’ve completed 90 percent; we need to take it all the way, that means bringing down the Iranian regime and finishing off Hamas and Hezbollah."
NEW: Two Israeli soldiers were killed and three wounded this morning when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a temporary checkpoint near Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The IDF named the dead as Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, from Ashkelon, and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, from Hod Hasharon. Netanyahu ordere
