ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered a "full lockdown" of the West Bank in the wake of a clash between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers near Hebron, coming as the premier faces a high-stakes national election next week.

The incident saw two Palestinian men clash with the Israeli military at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, with the Israeli military announcing subsequently that they killed the two alleged perpetrators and "launched offensive counterterrorism operations" in the area.

"The soldiers are currently operating inside the residences of the terrorists and additional suspects," a military statement noted.

Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency medical service, said that its responders were providing medical treatment to five individuals at the site of the incident: two of whom were in "critical condition," two who were lightly injured, and one who was "moderately wounded."

Palestinian state media reported that four people, Nader Balbisi, Hamza al-Foul, Ikrima Elba, and Wissam Hajja, were arrested in Qalqilya by Israeli forces, whom they said "searched their homes and ransacked their contents."

Reacting to the developments, Netanyahu wrote on X that he has instructed security forces "to immediately impose a closure on the city of Hebron and to prepare for a full lockdown across all of Judea and Samaria starting today."

Judea and Samaria is the term used by Israeli officials to refer to the West Bank that seeks to emphasize the area's ancient ties to Judaism and delegitimize Palestinian ownership of the land.

"We will pursue Hamas terrorists and their dispatchers everywhere and at all times. You have no safe haven," the premier concluded.

The shooting comes at a time of heightened tensions in the West Bank, with Israeli settlers, whose presence in Palestinian-administered territory is deemed illegal under international law, having ramped up attacks on Palestinian villages and crops, with the Netanyahu government and its far-right ministers being accused of offering carte blanche to extremist settler groups.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in communities scattered across the West Bank, territory Israel has occupied since 1967. These settlements are deemed illegal under international law.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is vehemently pro-settler and has filmed himself demolishing Palestinian homes, called for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to be dismantled due to the Friday incident, despite there being no public evidence that the widely-recognized PA was implicated in the attacks.

"We have to act before it's too late. The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled and demilitarized, and its terror infrastructure wiped out completely," he said in a statement.

The attack comes mere days ahead of Israel's parliamentary elections, with Israelis set to cast their ballots on Tuesday. The vote marks a key test for Netanyahu, whose latest term as premier saw him in power during Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Since 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has an active arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu on charges of war crimes perpetrated in Gaza.