Netanyahu: A "big surprise" awaits the Palestinian Authority

"We have changed the Middle East. I said we would bring about change, and that is what we did," he stated in an interview with the i24NEWS network conducted late Friday.

He added, "There is a very big surprise waiting for the Palestinian Authority as well."

Netanyahu had vowed on Friday a strong military response following the killing of two Israeli soldiers in an attack carried out by two Palestinians near the city of Hebron in the West Bank.

Following the attack, one of his far-right allies called for "dismantling the Palestinian Authority and disarming it."

Netanyahu strongly rejects the idea of establishing a Palestinian state, a position also shared by his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, just days before Tuesday's elections.

The Israeli occupation army announced on Friday evening the start of a military operation in the West Bank that would last for several days, coinciding with incursions into Palestinian cities and towns, including Hebron, Nablus, Tubas, the town of Aqaba to its north, and Qalqilya.

The occupation army said in a statement that the operation targets dozens of areas across the West Bank, noting that the operation in Hebron focuses on searching the area from which the perpetrators of the Hebron attack originated, to uncover "weapons and infrastructure," with the participation of the Israeli intelligence agency (Shin Bet) and border guard forces.

It added that residents in the operation area will be able to leave through 3 exits, after undergoing inspection and security interrogation.

Occupation forces stormed Palestinian cities and towns, carried out house raids and arrests, amid a wide deployment of military vehicles, while firing flares into the sky over the city of Hebron and beginning to evacuate homes in the Jalda area.