Investigations

Netanyahu ordered a Hebron crackdown after gunmen killed two soldiers

Israeli forces sealed parts of the city and displaced thousands days before the first national election since the October 2023 attack.

Days before Israelis voted in the first election since the October 2023 attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a large-scale military operation in Hebron after two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint. The gunfight lasted just over 20 minutes and left two soldiers dead, three wounded, and both gunmen killed. Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan filmed near the intersection, then across Tel Aviv, an ultra-Orthodox rally, and Nazareth as the West Bank locked down.

Correspondent Liam Kak stood outside Hebron where the shooting had taken place three days earlier. The Faralahawa area was effectively sealed, restricting movement across much of the West Bank and displacing thousands of Palestinians from their homes. IDF soldiers spotted the crew within minutes and ordered them out of the occupied West Bank into Israel.

Israeli bulldozers demolished a three-story building in Hebron after soldiers gave families five minutes to collect their belongings. Israeli officials framed the sweep as part of promised retribution for the checkpoint attack.

With less than 48 hours until the election and Netanyahu trailing in polls, the crew filmed a Tel Aviv demonstration organized by relatives of hostages taken on October 7. Rallygoers said Netanyahu and his Likud government did not represent them and blamed him for damage to Israel's reputation abroad. Several said the prime minister should have resigned after the attack regardless of what intelligence he had received.

The crew also attended a Haredi demonstration against compulsory military service. Roughly 1.4 million ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, about 14 percent of the population, had long been exempt from the draft until recent policy shifts. Many voters in that community said they opposed Netanyahu and Likud over the service question, and losing their support could narrow his path to a governing majority.

On election day in Nazareth, Israel's largest predominantly Palestinian city, residents told the crew they would boycott the vote. One man said he refused to take part in an election that required him to acknowledge Israel as a state for Jews only while he considered himself Palestinian. He said neither Likud nor the main opposition offered real change on occupation or sovereignty, and that opposition parties focused on military failures and Hamas while avoiding Palestinian rights inside Israel.

Polls had shown Netanyahu behind a rival coalition. Palestinian citizens who did vote split their support between the Joint List and other opposition tickets, while none of the major party leaders in the race campaigned on creating a Palestinian state.

Source video: Israeli Elections