Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will lock down Hebron in the occupied West Bank, go house to house and demolish homes after two soldiers were killed at a military checkpoint near the city.

The army said two soldiers, Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman, 23, and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem, 20, were killed and three others were lightly wounded during an attack by Palestinian gunmen. The attack took place near the Yehuda Junction outside the West Bank city of Hebron.

The army said it had prevented a “terror attack against Israeli civilians” and that the two suspects, both Palestinians from Hebron, were armed with an M16 rifle and a handgun.

It said the men arrived at an Israeli military position in the morning, triggering an exchange of fire lasting about 20 minutes, after which the gunmen were killed by Israeli troops. The army said its forces prevented the men from advancing further, where the attack could have resulted in civilian casualties.

Netanyahu’s office later said it had instructed security forces to immediately cordon off Hebron and prepare for a full closure of the West Bank, starting Friday.

During a visit to the attack site on Friday, the prime minister said Israel would retaliate with a sweeping anti-terror operation in the Hebron neighbourhood where the gunmen had resided.

“We will act to destroy this place, to change it completely,” Netanyahu said in a statement after the attack.

“We will evacuate the residents, we will go house by house, we will also remove the weapons there, and all the terror infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed.”

A Reuters reporter documented Israeli bulldozers beginning to demolish homes in Hebron near the site of the shooting. Local residents said the homes had no connection to the attackers.

Israeli voters will decide next Tuesday whether to grant Netanyahu yet another term in office — or usher in a new era of Israeli politics. The election comes three years after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Read More: Netanyahu says Israel will demolish homes after ‘soldiers killed in West Bank attack’