Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired on three Palestinians who had attacked them with stones in southern Samaria overnight Wednesday, killing one, the military announced on Thursday morning.
“Overnight, IDF soldiers from Unit 636 conducting an ambush on a central route near the village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya in the Samaria Brigade [deployment area] fired at terrorists who were throwing stones at them,” according to the Hebrew-language statement.
“As a result of the fire, the force eliminated one of the terrorists,” the IDF added. “Hits were identified on two additional terrorists. There were no casualties among our forces.”
The Binyamin Regional Council, which administers Jewish communities in the area, said the ambush was set up in recent weeks in response to repeated stoning of civilian vehicles on the Route 60 highway.
The council noted that due to repeated stoning incidents, the army decided to close the main access road to Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya.
“We thank the Samaria Regional Brigade, the brigade, commander, Col. Ariel Gonen, Unit 636, and IDF Home Front Command’s Battalion 882, which is responsible for the sector, for their work day and night to safeguard our security,” concluded the regional council.
The IDF previously closed off the entrance to Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya in late June, following repeated terrorist attacks emanating from the town.
“Checkpoints throughout Judea and Samaria are opened and closed in accordance with operational assessments,” the IDF told JNS at the time.
“This particular route was blocked because it had been used by suspects who carried out numerous stone-throwing and firebombing attacks targeting civilian roads near the village,” the army’s statement noted.
The blockade was implemented after Jewish residents of the region organized daily prayer rallies outside the Arab village in protest against the attacks.
“Starting Thursday, we ... will begin holding morning prayers at Lubban at 7 a.m. until the situation changes and we receive what we want from the regional brigade commander,” stated a group of residents from Eli, Shiloh and Ma’aleh Levonah in a May 28 WhatsApp announcement.
In the wake of the May 14 terrorist murder of Tzeela Gez, rock-throwing attacks were reported across areas that were previously relatively quiet, including near Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya. For 1 km., or 0.6 miles, Israel’s busy Route 60 north-south highway passes by the Arab town’s schools.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures made public by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
The figures, which were cross-checked against official data from Israel’s security services, included 3,668 instances of rock-throwing, 843 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 671 attempts to blind drivers with laser pointers, 526 explosive charges, 364 cases of arson and 179 terrorist shootings.
The NGO also recorded 37 attempted or successful stabbings, 36 bottles of paint being thrown at vehicles and 19 Palestinian car-ramming attacks, including 12 that caused injuries to Israeli victims.
