Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and three other people were wounded Friday in a shooting in the southern West Bank, officials said. The two suspected gunmen were also killed.
The IDF identified the dead soldiers as Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, of Ashkelon, a squad commander with the Ari Battalion (775) of the Search and Rescue Brigade, and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, of Hod Hasharon, a combat soldier in the same battalion and brigade.
The Israeli military said it responded to a shooting near the Judea Junction on Friday and killed two people it described as “terrorists.”
Several hours after the attack, Israel instructed its military to prepare for a complete closure of the West Bank, The Associated Press reported.
Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, were killed during an attack in the West Bank on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (Israeli Defense Forces)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting of the Security Cabinet and alleged that Hamas was “planning a major attack aimed at murdering innocent civilians.”
Netanyahu said Israeli forces would soon launch a large-scale operation in the West Bank.
Israeli forces stand guard near a shooting scene in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
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“Our brave soldiers thwarted this attack with courage and determination,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli authorities responded to a shooting in the southern West Bank on Friday that left five people wounded and two suspected attackers dead. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Authorities had not immediately released the suspected gunmen’s identities. The Israeli army said they were Palestinians from Hebron and were armed with an M16 rifle and a handgun.
Israeli security forces investigated the scene of a shooting near Judea Junction in the West Bank that left five Israelis injured. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Israeli intelligence agencies and security forces carried out dozens of raids across the West Bank on Friday, arresting dozens of people. Israeli officials said some of those detained were members of Hamas and affiliated with Islamic Jihad.
Eyal Zamir, the Israeli army’s chief of staff, said troops found a “large quantity of ammunition” in a vehicle used by the suspected attackers.
“This ammunition was intended to be used in a larger-scale attack,” he said.
