And to get ready to shut down the whole West Bank.
So what happened? Two Palestinian men opened fire on Israeli troops at a checkpoint early this morning.
The checkpoint is called Yehuda Junction, near Hebron. Israeli soldiers fired back. The gunfight lasted about 20 minutes.
Both gunmen were shot dead. Five Israeli soldiers were wounded. Two of them critically.
The gunmen have been named. Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba. Both 27. Both from Hebron. Both from the same family.
Israel's military says they had a rifle and a handgun. And says they were planning something bigger. A large-scale attack on Israeli civilians.
Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military's chief of staff, called the shooting serious. He said troops stopped an even more serious attack by killing the two men.
Netanyahu moved fast.
He ordered an immediate cordon around Hebron. And told the military to prepare a full closure of the entire West Bank, starting today.
He also told his own Likud party to cancel every political event planned for the day.
Here's why the timing matters. Israel votes in a general election in four days, on 27 October. That vote could unseat Netanyahu's coalition.
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Contains modified ISS Expedition 74 imagery showing the Palestinian Territories. File photo. Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domain
And two of the most hardline people in that coalition just went much further than Netanyahu did.
He says quote "there is no alternative to a full-scale military campaign to dismantle the Palestinian Authority".
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's National Security Minister, called for the same thing. He wants the Palestinian Authority dismantled too.
So that's two senior ministers calling for the end of the body that runs Palestinian civilian affairs in parts of the West Bank. Not just a lockdown. The whole thing, gone.
But here's the thing. Netanyahu hasn't backed that call. Neither has the Israeli Cabinet. His own order, so far, is a cordon and a lockdown. Nothing about dismantling the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs says Israeli forces closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron during the operation. And expelled its staff and the people who look after it.
The ministry says that breaks international guarantees on access to Islamic holy sites. That account comes from the ministry alone, reported by Middle East Eye. It has not been confirmed anywhere else.
Palestinian media also reported Israeli raids in Dura, south of Hebron. At least one Palestinian man was wounded. Others were arrested. That, too, rests on one source.
Hamas put out a statement praising the shooting. It did not claim responsibility. And there is no sign the Palestinian Authority itself had anything to do with the attack.
So what don't we know? How a full lockdown is actually different from what's already in place. How long it would last. And whether the call to dismantle the Palestinian Authority goes any further than Smotrich and Ben Gvir.
Right now, Netanyahu has ordered a cordon and lockdown preparations. Two of his ministers want the Palestinian Authority gone entirely. Israel votes in four days.
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