Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

IDF kills two terrorists in northern Samaria

The pair hurled explosives at troops near Jenin.

Soldiers from the Kfir Brigade patrol along the Lebanese border, Oct. 3, 2023. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.
Soldiers from the Kfir Brigade patrol along the Lebanese border, Oct. 3, 2023. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.

Israel Defense Forces shot and killed two Palestinians in the town of Ya’bad, 12 miles west of Jenin in northern Samaria, on Sunday night, the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency reported.

Confrontations erupted after Israeli troops entered the town from the east. Mohammad Rabi Jamal Hamarsheh, 16, and Ahmad Mahmoud Zaid, 20, were shot and killed, WAFA reported. The PA Health Ministry claimed Hamarsheh was 13 years old.

Troops from the Kfir Infantry Brigade’s Haruv Reconnaissance Battalion spotted the terrorists carrying explosives, were attacked, and shot them, Ynet reported. The incident is being investigated by the IDF, according to the report.

Over the weekend, officers from the Israel Police’s Northern District seized a shipment of more than 20,000 bullets intended for “terrorist elements in Judea and Samaria,” the police announced on Sunday.

Two residents of Ma’ale Iron, a local council that consists of five Arab Israeli villages near Megiddo, were arrested.

The suspects, aged 22 and 35, were pulled over by officers on Friday in the area of the Megiddo Junction, located a mere minutes’ drive away from the Samaria security barrier.

Both men were detained for questioning by security services.

The Israel Police said, “This massive seizure, worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, is another success of the Northern District in locating the sources of illegal arms and eliminating smuggling routes.”

The Radwan Force is Hezbollah’s commando unit that specializes in cross-border infiltration operations.
A state report finding Jews were targets of three-quarters of hate crimes in California in 2025 “should be a gut-check for our entire society,” Nathan Hochman told JNS.
The Israeli military would have “no contact” with civilians and “no role” in separating the zones from the rest of Gaza, a source tells JNS.
“They just couldn’t figure out how to represent 11% of the city,” stated the writer Avital Chizik-Goldschmidt.
Day Two of the “Contemporary Antisemitism 2026” conference in Haifa explored how Jewish belonging is increasingly contested across digital platforms, popular culture and minority movements.
Against the backdrop of rising antisemitism, attendees discussed leadership, solidarity and expanding engagement between black communities and Israel.