The total defeat of Arab terrorists in Judea and Samaria should be added to Jerusalem’s official goals in the war against Hamas, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir reiterated on Sunday following a deadly shooting on the border with Jordan.
“It was with great sadness that I received the difficult news that a heinous terrorist murdered three Israelis at the Allenby terminal [crossing],” the minister said in a statement published by his office.
“The war we are in is not only against Gaza and Hezbollah [in Lebanon], it is also in Judea and Samaria,” Ben-Gvir declared in the statement. “Just last week, I asked the prime minister to also include victory in Judea and Samaria among the goals of the war. I will continue to fight for this to happen.”
The government’s stated goals for the war against Hamas, which was sparked by the Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,200 people in Israel, include to destroy Hamas as an armed and governing force in the Gaza Strip and to ensure that it cannot threaten the Jewish state, as well as returning all hostages taken by Hamas during the cross-border attack.
Reaching a military or diplomatic solution that will allow the safe return of tens and thousands of citizens displaced from their homes near the Jewish state’s northern border since Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8 is another main objective.
Ben-Gvir’s appeal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes as the security situation in Judea and Samaria further deteriorates.
Earlier on Sunday, three security guards at the Allenby Bridge crossing in the Jordan Valley were killed in a terrorist shooting. The terrorist drove in a truck to the crossing from the Jordanian side. He then exited the vehicle and began firing at civilians guarding the border.
The attack came a day after an Arab terrorist rammed his vehicle into a police car at a gas station outside the community of Eli in Samaria’s Binyamin region. The plice car was empty, and nobody was injured.
One week ago, three police officers were killed in a shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in Judea.
The next day, Israeli forces neutralized a car bomb near the entrance to the town of Ateret in Binyamin. The 100-pound explosive was intended to detonate while a school bus was passing by, security officials believe.
On Aug. 30, terrorists linked to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement carried out a twin car bombing in the Gush Etzion area of Judea, wounding two Israeli soldiers and a security guard.
In the first half of 2024, Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 Arab terrorist attacks each month on average, according to figures published on Aug. 1 by Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria).
During that time period, first responders recorded 3,272 terrorist acts in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings.
Terrorists murdered 14 people and wounded more than 155 others in Judea and Samaria between January and June, the rescue group said.
