Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the soldiers' response and ordered a lockdown in the West Bank after the attack. (EPA Images pic)HEBRON: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened a military operation in the occupied West Bank on a scale unseen in decades after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers on Friday in an attack near Hebron days before national elections.
A first step would see residents displaced, homes searched and "terrorist infrastructure" destroyed, said the premier, who is in the midst of a tight race for a new term in Tuesday's vote.
Militant group Hamas, without claiming responsibility, praised the attack as a "heroic operation" and called on supporters to carry out more.
