{"id":655609,"date":"2026-10-24T09:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T09:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655609\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T09:12:14","slug":"benjamin-netanyahu-praises-idf-troops-for-stopping-wide-scale-hamas-attack-in-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655609\/","title":{"rendered":"Benjamin Netanyahu praises IDF troops for stopping wide-scale Hamas attack in West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without IDF soldiers stopping two Hamas terrorists on Friday morning<\/a>, a major attack would likely have been made targeting civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our forces are operating with reinforcements to thwart terrorism and are carrying out extensive waves of arrests,” Netanyahu also said. “We will pursue Hamas terrorists and those who sent them, wherever they are and at all times.”<\/p>\n

After the attack, Netanyahu had announced that Likud events which had been scheduled for Friday morning would be canceled. He also ordered the IDF and security forces to establish a cordon around the city of Hebron and to block off all travel through the West Bank.<\/p>\n

President Isaac Herzog said that he had spoken to the head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council to express his support following the attack.<\/p>\n

“I told him that – together with the entire people of Israel, I am praying for the healing and full recovery of the wounded, some of whom are in very serious condition, and I asked him to embrace their dear families on my behalf,” Herzog stated.<\/p>\n

He also praised the soldiers who had successfully killed the terrorists, saying that they had prevented a large-scale attack.<\/p>\n

\"NationalNational Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks at the scene of a terror attack in the West Bank, October 23, 2026. (credit: SETH J. FRANTZMAN)<\/p>\n

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a> called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the terror attack.<\/p>\n

“The severe attack that has just taken place serves as a bloody, harsh, and painful reminder of the price of the conception,” he wrote. “We must not wait for an October 7 in Judea and Samaria. The next conflict will erupt there; we must act before it is too late. The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled, disarmed, and its terror infrastructure completely eradicated. The blood of our soldiers is not up for grabs.”<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir also arrived on the scene of the attack, where he said that he did not want the road barriers and cordons to be removed in order for the locals to be able to return to their normal lives.<\/p>\n

“As long as there’s terror, they should not be able to live as normal,” he insisted.<\/p>\n

“When I said, two or three years ago, that the freedom of movement for residents of the area was less important than the right of Jews to live, more than a few people rose up against me,” he added.<\/p>\n

No escaping West Bank military campaign, Smotrich says<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed that, after the attack, there would be “no escaping” a comprehensive military campaign in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visits the scene of shooting attack near the West Bank city of Hebron, October 23, 2026. (credit: Ahmad Gharabli\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“Under the current government, we have led a positive revolution in the settlement enterprise<\/a>, one that effectively kills the dangerous idea of \u200b\u200bestablishing a terror state in the heart of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said.<\/p>\n

“However, this task cannot be completed without a shift in our security doctrine – decisively defeating terror and its architects through an extensive military operation.”<\/p>\n

Smotrich added that this operation would be one of the first things to be demanded in the next government.<\/p>\n

Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, also reacted to the terror attack on X\/Twitter, praying for the recovery of the victims and praising the IDF soldiers for their heroism and courage.<\/p>\n

Liberman calls for end of containment policy for terror<\/p>\n

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman said that it was a difficult morning for Israel.<\/p>\n

“How many more attacks do we need to absorb to understand that we cannot continue with the policy of containment?”<\/p>\n

“Terror is eliminated, not contained!”<\/p>\n

Ofer Winter<\/a>, chairman of the People of Israel party, said that cordons and demolition of “a few square meters” of terrorists’ houses was not enough, and that a “decisive, root-level intervention” was needed.<\/p>\n

“If we do not shift from a reactive, containment-based approach to one of constant initiative and a comprehensive campaign to eradicate terror, it is absolutely certain that the next October 7 will originate from Judea and Samaria,” he said.<\/p>\n

Lander accused Netanyahu of threatening collective punishment in retaliation for attack<\/p>\n

Congressional nominee Brad Lander (D-NY), who was detained earlier this week in the West Bank alongside approximately 90 volunteers with Rabbis for Human Rights, expressed his condolences over the deaths of two IDF soldiers killed in Friday’s terrorist attack near Hebron, while calling for an end to violence against both Israelis and Palestinians in a post on X\/Twitter on Friday.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m grieving the deaths of the two Israeli soldiers killed in Hebron today,” Lander wrote, “and praying for the full & speedy recovery of those who were injured.”<\/p>\n

Lander reiterated his opposition to Israel’s presence in the West Bank, while stressing that violence would not bring about peace.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve spoken out loudly this week against Israel\u2019s occupation of the West Bank, which imposes violence on a daily basis, and I will continue to do so,” he wrote. “But violence is not the path to ending it \u2014 or to achieving safety, freedom, and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.”<\/p>\n

Lander also criticized Netanyahu’s response to the attack, accusing him of threatening collective punishment against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

“And neither is collective punishment or ethnic cleansing of an entire neighborhood, or punishing millions of people for the criminal act of two, which Netanyahu has promised to enact in response,” Lander wrote.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his experiences in the West Bank over the past week, Lander said he would share more about his visit in the coming days, adding that he was preparing to return home.<\/p>\n

“There is a path to ending this excruciating cycle of violence. It starts by insisting that every life is sacred, that everyone is created in God\u2019s image,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“For now: Shabbat Shalom, to everyone who believes in the hard work of making peace & justice a reality, for everyone,” Lander concluded.<\/p>\n

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Without IDF soldiers stopping two Hamas terrorists on Friday morning, a major attack would likely have been made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[957,1982,42,19153,1031,43,98,40,38,41,39,77],"class_list":["post-655609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ben-gvir","tag-bezalel-smotrich","tag-headlines","tag-hebron","tag-idf","tag-news","tag-terrorism","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}