Palestinian militants wounded five Israelis in an attack on Friday before being killed in a prolonged shoot-out with soldiers, leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order a lockdown in the occupied West Bank days before Israeli elections.
Netanyahu, facing a tight race for a new term in Tuesday’s election, said that Israeli troops prevented what could have been a major attack, with the two assailants allegedly carrying a large quantity of ammunition in their vehicle.
An Agence France-Presse journalist who witnessed the gun battle saw two Palestinian men armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanging fire with Israeli forces at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint near the Palestinian city of Hebron.
Israeli forces eventually shot and killed the attackers, leaving their bodies on the ground next to a petrol station as troops patrolled all around.