Palestinian terrorist groups in Samaria could attack Israeli cities in the central Sharon region using paragliders, similar to the way Hamas terrorists did down south on Oct. 7, an umbrella organization uniting hundreds of civilian security squads warns.
“Terrorists can infiltrate by air from Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqilya to communities along the Seam Line and nearby cities within minutes,” Sharon Turgeman, chairman of the Hineni Forum, which represents more than 360 security teams consisting of thousands of volunteers all over Israel, said on Sunday.
“We have to change our outlook immediately and prepare for an aerial incursion,” said Turgeman, urging the government to “equip the standby squads with appropriate equipment to deal with these threats.”
The Hineni Forum drafted a detailed plan with operational suggestions to improve the emergency teams’ readiness for various threats facing the Israeli communities near the Judea and Samaria security fence.
Standby squads are made up of locals, usually former military, who train together and serve as first-response teams, holding down the fort until regular troops arrive. At least two kibbutzim in Israel’s western Negev were saved during Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre because of such squads.
Hamas terrorists used paragliders to infiltrate southern Israel on Oct. 7, after which they slaughtered some 1,200 people and wounded thousands.
Following the massacre, several local authorities in the Sharon region decided to purchase radar systems to warn of terrorist infiltrations by air. The first town where the system was installed was Kadima-Zoran, located less than four miles from the Palestinian terror hub of Tulkarem.
