Israeli forces discovered a tunnel during a counterterror operation in the Tulkarem camp in northwestern Samaria, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.
According to the Israeli military, the underground complex was located adjacent to a hospital in the camp, situated north of the city of the same name, and contained an entrance but no exit, as it was still under construction.
“The forces are continuing to investigate the complex and will dismantle it,” the IDF added.
While Hamas built a vast terror tunnel network in the Gaza Strip over many years that the Israeli army has been working to dismantle since war broke out on Oct. 7, these types of tunnels are rare in Judea and Samaria, where the IDF regularly operates to locate and destroy terrorist infrastructure.
The tunnel was found as the IDF restarted its major operation in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley on Sept. 10, which has been dubbed “Summer Camps” and was initially launched on Aug. 28.
Since the operation resumed, the IDF has killed more than 10 armed terrorists in ground and aerial attacks, including four in the areas of Tulkarem and Nur Shams, the army said. Three of the latter terrorists were killed in an aerial strike on Sept. 11, and the fourth in close-quarters combat.
One of the three killed in the aerial strike was named by the IDF as Muhammad Abu Ataya. He was suspected of killing Master Sgt. (res.) Maxim Rizkov, 30, from Beersheva, of the Israel Border Police’s Yamas undercover unit, on Oct. 18, 2023.
In addition, the IDF said that it hit another 15 terrorists during the operation, without specifying whether they were wounded or killed or how they were attacked.
During a 48-hour counterterrorism operation in the areas of Tubas, Tamun and Far’ar, Israeli forces killed a terrorist throwing explosive devices during exchanges of fire. The forces also located a vehicle rigged with explosives. Inside, they found explosive devices and a long-range detonation system that was dismantled.
In all the areas of activity, Israeli forces seized large amounts of weapons, including sniper rifles, two M-16s, handguns and additional weaponry.
In Tulkarem, forces located and dismantled four bomb manufacturing laboratories and four operational communications centers equipped with cameras. Additionally, a machine used to manufacture weapons, within which weapon parts were found, and many IEDs in the area were dismantled.
Furthermore, five armed terrorists were killed by an aircraft in Tubas.
