Israel has threatened to launch a “full-scale war” against the Palestinian Authority if its security forces are found to be planning an attack against Israeli forces or settlements similar to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, issued the warning on Monday following a stabbing attack in the northern occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military said it shot and killed a Palestinian assailant.

Katz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to prepare for a major operation if the Palestinian Authority’s security mechanisms were found to be planning an attack.

He said the operation would target the senior leadership and security structures of the Palestinian Authority, as well as what Israel describes as “terror infrastructure” across the West Bank.

According to Katz, the campaign could include targeted killings of senior Palestinian figures, the evacuation of residents from areas where attacks originate and the establishment of a permanent Israeli military presence.

He said the operation would follow the model of Israeli military “security zones” currently operating in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had shot and killed a Palestinian assailant who stabbed an Israeli settler in the northern occupied West Bank.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said an Israeli man in his 20s was hospitalised in moderate to serious condition after sustaining multiple stab wounds.

Reacting to the incident, Netanyahu praised the soldiers involved and vowed to continue targeting what he described as terrorist networks in the West Bank.

“No terrorist can hide,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel would continue to “eliminate terrorists, hunt down those who dispatch them, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.”

Hamas, however, called for an escalation of attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers following the incident.

The warning comes amid heightened violence in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

According to a tally based on official Israeli figures, Hamas’s October 7 attack killed 1,221 people and resulted in the abduction of 251 hostages.

Israel’s subsequent military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 73,651 people, according to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority.