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IDF expands northern Samaria operation, forms new Jenin battalion

Implementing Gaza fighting methods in the terror stronghold of Jenin, the military has evacuated the population and set up screening points around the refugee camp.

Israeli troops during counterterror activities in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas in northern Samaria, August 2024. Credit: IDF.
Israeli troops during counterterror activities in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas in northern Samaria, August 2024. Credit: IDF.

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday expanded “Operation Iron Wall” in northern Samaria, and plans the formation of a new battalion that will remain in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas beyond the duration of the operation.

The military has been introducing fighting methods to the Samaria operation developed during the war against Hamas in Gaza, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.

With Jenin’s refugee camp functioning as the main stronghold of the Palestinian terrorists, the IDF established “screening” points around it and ordered the civilian population to evacuate.

The military managed to apprehend many terrorists who attempted to flee the area during the screening process, per Channel 12.

The terrorists had constructed narrow alleys within the camp to prevent the entry of IDF heavy armored vehicles, the report added. Once the population was largely evacuated, the military was able to change its modus operandi, demolishing buildings and widening passageways to allow the entry of armored vehicles.

Both moves are “dismantling the Jenin Battalion, which doesn’t know how to handle them,” the report quoted a senior IDF officer as saying.

“This is something that we’ve never done before [in this region,” the officer went on to say. “We’re not going to get out of there. Once the residents return it will be under strict filtering,” he stressed.

The report noted that the IDF is planning to implement this method of operation in all refugee camps in northern Samaria, and has already begun doing so in Tulkarem.

An officer currently fighting in Tulkarem was quoted by Channel 12 as saying, “Our gloves were taken off so we can successfully carry out our operational mission. We fought in Gaza for several months and brought here the same methods we executed or learned in the Strip. We’re arriving [here] very strong and aggressive, to bring change.”

The officer went on to state that never before had he had in Judea and Samaria “the availability of UAVs and attack helicopters, and now, the moment I see a terrorist raise his head, he gets hit by a missile. Every structure a terrorist has touched is destroyed.”

The commander of the operation, OC Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, has reportedly formed a close team around him to directly challenge his strategy. The role of the so-called “Red Team,” Channel 12 reported, is to think like the enemy and act as a sort of “devil’s advocate.”

Since the start of “Operation Iron Wall” in northern Samaria on Jan. 21, the IDF has killed more than 50 Palestinian terrorists, the military said on Sunday.

At least 35 gunmen were killed during ground operations in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas, while another 15 were killed in airstrikes, the IDF said. More than 100 wanted terrorists have been detained thus far.

“During the operation, the forces located and confiscated dozens of weapons, destroyed hundreds of explosive devices and dozens of additional charges that were planted on roads to harm our forces,” according to the military.

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