The Israel Defense Forces has sent reinforcements to towns in the Sharon region along the country’s pre-1967 lines amid fears of terrorist infiltrations, Army Radio reported on Monday.
Troops were deployed to the Seam Zone communities following a warning about Palestinian ground attacks guided by Iran and Hamas.
צה"ל הקפיץ פלוגות ליישובי קו התפר בעקבות התרעה לפיגועי חדירה • רפי סער, ראש עיריית כפר סבא ויו"ר פורום רשויות קו התפר, אצל @YaelDan1: "שומעים זעקה, אבל כשרואים מה שקורה בצפון ובדרום זה נראה אירוע מינורי. במידה ותהיה חדירה לעיר נתמודד מולן לבד"
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) August 5, 2024
(צילום: באדיבות עיריית כפר סבא) pic.twitter.com/i2ektd5ksO
The warning was received by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), which was mainly focused on terrorists from the Tulkarem area crossing the Green Line to carry out attacks.
Israeli Air Force strikes in the Tulkarem area of Samaria, which abuts the Green Line, killed nine Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists over the weekend, among them members of cells responsible for the murder of an off-duty soldier, a Border Police officer and a civilian, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday.
The counterterror operation in the Tulkarem area was launched following the targeted elimination of a terrorist squad on its way to carry out an attack, the military said.
Soldiers sent to communities in the Sharon area in recent days are positioned to provide an immediate response to any infiltration attempts.
Security officials told Army Radio: “Iran and Hamas are trying in every way to draw Israel’s attention to Judea and Samaria and cause an intifada to break out in the territories because they believe that this way they will succeed in preventing an Israeli attack in Lebanon. Judea and Samaria is once again threatening to become the main arena in the war.”
Rafi Saar, mayor of Kfar Saba and chairman of the Seam Line Municipalities Forum, told Army Radio: “We hear the outcry, but when we see what’s happening in the north and the south, it [the local threat] seems like a minor event. If there is an infiltration into the city, we will deal with it on our own.”
On Sunday, a Palestinian terrorist from the Arab city of Salfit in Samaria murdered two people and wounded two others in a stabbing rampage in Holon, just south of Tel Aviv, before a police officer killed him.
The terrorist illegally crossed into Israel three days before via Jerusalem. IDF troops on Sunday mapped out his home for demolition.
