IDF: 50 terrorists killed, 100 detained since start of Samaria op

The Israel Defense Forces has killed more than 50 Palestinian terrorists since the start of “Operation Iron Wall” in northern Samaria on Jan. 21, the military said on Sunday evening, announcing it was expanding the offensive.

At least 35 gunmen were killed by soldiers during ground operations in the Jenin and Tulkarem areas, while another 15 were killed in airstrikes, the IDF said. More than 100 wanted terrorists have been detained thus far.

“During the operation, the forces located and confiscated dozens of weapons, destroyed hundreds of explosive devices and dozens of additional charges that were planted on roads to harm our forces,” the IDF said.

On Sunday, the counter-terrorism operation was expanded to include Tammun, a Palestinian town south of Tubas near Nablus. On Jan. 20, one Israeli soldier was killed and four others were wounded when their armored army vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Tammun.

Earlier on Sunday, the army said it had destroyed “several buildings in Jenin, in the Menashe Brigade [area of responsibility], which were used as terror infrastructure.”

According to the IDF, security forces destroyed 23 structures in the Jenin area where terrorist infrastructure was located after searching hundreds of buildings in the area. During the scans, explosives laboratories, weapons, observation posts, and more terrorist infrastructure were found.

No casualties were reported in the incident.

The demolition came after Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to destroy any building used to carry out acts of terrorism in the hostile Palestinian city, the Jewish state’s Channel 12 broadcaster reported.

“Operation Iron Wall” includes the IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Border Police forces, the army said when it announced the raids two weeks ago.

Israeli ground forces entered Jenin with the stated goal of preserving Jerusalem’s ability to swiftly act against terrorist organizations in the city, known among Arabs as the “Martyrs’ Capital” due to the many suicide bombers who have emerged from the area.

During a visit to the Jenin area on Jan. 22, Katz described the operation in the city as “a shift in the IDF’s security doctrine in Judea and Samaria.

“We will not allow the arms of the Iranian octopus and radical Sunni Islam to endanger the lives of [Israeli] citizens and establish an eastern terrorist front against the State of Israel,” the defense minister vowed. “We will strike hard at the arms of the octopus until they are severed.”

An unnamed senior security official told Israel’s Channel 14 News broadcaster previously that the large-scale campaign against Iranian-backed terrorist organizations in northern Samaria could take months.

“When it ends, the terror camps will cease to exist. What we did in Gaza, we will do to them as well; we will leave them in ruins,” the source said.

The Israeli Air Force conducted a series of strikes on terrorist cells in northern Samaria on Saturday, thwarting an “imminent terror attack.”

Secondary blasts were observed after the Air Force strike in Qabatiya, indicating the presence of explosives in a vehicle being used by terrorists. According to the IDF, the Palestinian cell had been en route to carry out an attack.