The escalation was prompted by a deadly shooting attack and comes days ahead of pivotal legislative elections in Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a blockade of the occupied West Bank in the aftermath of a deadly shootout between IDF troops and two suspected Palestinian gunmen at a security checkpoint.

The incident unfolded on Friday in the southern West Bank at the temporary checkpoint at the Judea Junction on Route 35. An AFP photographer who witnessed the shootout reported the two Palestinian suspects armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers. Five Israelis were wounded in the attack, with two servicemen succumbing to their wounds in hospital, while the gunmen were killed on the site of the shootout, which lasted more than 20 minutes, according to a preliminary Israeli military investigation.

The Israeli military described the incident as a thwarted “terror attack” without specifying the intended target of the suspects.…