Netanyahu seals Hebron and orders gunmen's neighbourhood razed

Hours after the checkpoint attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Hebron and surrounding towns closed, house-to-house searches in the attackers' neighbourhood and preparations for a full lockdown of the West Bank. Speaking of the area, he said: "We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely."

Residents of al-Jalda and Ein Deir Baha were ordered out by loudspeaker. Bulldozers demolished a three-apartment building, a tile factory and shops in Farsh al-Hawa; Israel's Channel 12 said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered the demolitions. Defence Minister Israel Katz said residents would not return "until we've finished dealing with all the Hamas issues in Hebron."

The Ibrahimi Mosque was closed and Friday prayers could not be held, the UN human rights office said, calling it the fourth territory-wide restriction in a month. The Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the operation amounts to collective punishment and acts that could constitute war crimes.