The Israeli military said on Friday that it had killed two suspected attackers following a reported shooting attack in the Judea Junction area of the occupied West Bank, and that its forces were continuing searches in the area under a cordon, Reuters reported.
Israeli media reports put the human toll higher than the military's brief statement described. The Times of Israel and Israel Hayom reported that five people were wounded in the attack near the junction south of Hebron, two of them in critical condition, and that the wounded were evacuated in armoured ambulances. The toll was still being updated in the first hours after the attack, and the identities of the wounded and of the two men killed had not been released.
According to those Israeli reports, army units including the Duvdevan special forces unit and Border Police, backed by aerial assets, were mobilised to the area amid concern about a possible third attacker, and a security closure was imposed on several nearby villages. Those operational details come from Israeli sources; no Palestinian official account of the incident had been reported at the time of publication.
Violence already running high in the West Bank
The shooting comes during the olive harvest season, a period when the United Nations has repeatedly documented attacks on Palestinian farmers and their property in the West Bank, alongside Israeli military operations and armed attacks by Palestinians. Each side blames the other for the escalating cycle.
The West Bank has seen sustained violence throughout the Gaza war and the fragile ceasefires that followed it, and Friday's attack adds to a toll that humanitarian agencies say has left the territory's Palestinian communities under constant pressure while Israeli forces maintain a heavy security presence around settlements and road junctions.
What is solid
- The Israeli military said two suspected attackers were killed after a shooting attack in the Judea Junction area on Friday, October 23, and that searches and a cordon were under way, Reuters reported.
- Israeli media (Times of Israel, Israel Hayom) reported five people wounded, two in critical condition.
What is only claimed
- Israeli reports raised concern about a possible third attacker; that had not been confirmed.
- No Palestinian official account of the incident had been reported, and the identities and motives of the men killed had not been released.
