IAF strikes cave outside Jenin, eliminating three terrorists

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday morning conducted an airstrike near the northern Samaria city of Jenin, eliminating three terrorist operatives and neutralizing an underground terrorist structure.

“At the direction of the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency], the Israeli Air Force struck terrorists from the air in the Menashe Brigade area” of deployment, the military stated.

“During an offensive operation in Kafr Qud ... IDF, Shin Bet and Yamam officers operated under Shin Bet guidance to arrest terrorists who were part of a terror cell in the Jenin camp,” it said.

During the operation, officers of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit “identified a terrorist squad inside a cave and fired at them, eliminating two terrorists and injuring one,” per the IDF.

The subsequent IAF strike on the cave “closed the circle and eliminated the additional terrorist” who was wounded, according to the statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz praised the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police for the operation, saying it helped foil a “serious terrorist attack threat.”

“Any attempt by terrorist groups to rebuild the terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria that we thwarted and destroyed in the terror camps in northern Samaria will be met with a heavy hand,” the minister said.

Katz added that he had instructed the IDF to take “all necessary measures, from the ground and from the air, to eliminate the terrorist threats in Judea and Samaria.”

IDF forces “will continue to remain in the terror camps of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur al-Shams to prevent terrorism and attacks,” Katz continued. “Anyone who assists terrorism or provides it shelter and support will be dealt with according to the Jenin terror camp model.”

According to Israel’s Kan News broadcaster, the three terrorists were plotting an imminent attack. They were said to have been targeted as they emerged from the cave, located some 3.5 miles west of Jenin.

The air force last attacked terrorists in Samaria from the air in early February, eliminating a cell that was on its way to carry out an attack in the Qabatiya area, four miles southeast of Jenin.

Last week, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned top military officials that terrorist elements could try to disturb the “stabilization processes” in the region, particularly in Judea and Samaria.

The region is “in a period of significant change, which could bring new developments, and we must be prepared for all scenarios,” Zamir said during a visit to the military’s Central Command base in Jerusalem.

Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times last year, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO on Feb. 17.

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.