IDF seizes 15 rockets in raid near Ramallah

Israeli forces seized 15 homemade rockets and other weapons in an overnight raid near Ramallah in Samaria, the military said Wednesday.

IDF troops, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents and Border Police officers found rockets in various stages of production, as well as explosives and arms, during the operation in Beitunia, the army said. Explosives experts dismantled the materials on site and the weapons were confiscated.

The operation took place following a Shin Bet investigation of a terrorist cell involved in rocket production that was apprehended last week in the Ramallah area, the statement continued. The rockets, explosives and weapons had been prepared and stockpiled by the terrorist cell.

On Sept. 23, Israeli forces identified a rocket in the Palestinian city of Tulkarem, in western Samaria.

Border Police sappers neutralized the rocket while troops searched the area for terrorists or any additional enemy matériel, the IDF said. The military opened an investigation into the incident.

On Sept. 19, Israeli security forces arrested a group of terrorists in Samaria who had attempted to fire a rocket from the Ramallah area the previous week.

Three suspected terrorists were arrested in a raid on a building where troops discovered two launch-ready rockets, dozens of improvised explosive devices and other evidence linking the suspects to attempts to manufacture projectiles, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, “Despite its commitments, the Palestinian Authority is not fighting terrorism and continues its ‘pay-for-slay’ policy,” in which terrorists receive funding for perpetrating attacks on Israelis and Jews.

“This is further proof of the enormous danger in establishing a ‘Palestinian state’,” Sa’ar added. “If Israel does not maintain security control over Judea and Samaria, the entire State of Israel will be in danger.”