Israel Defense Forces troops operating in the Hebron area foiled an attempted vehicular assault on Sunday night, according to the military.
Soldiers fired on a vehicle after it attempted to run over an IDF force operating near Khursa. The vehicle’s occupants were arrested, the IDF said. No soldiers were injured.
The incident came only a day after a terrorist rammed his vehicle into a police car at a gas station outside the town of Eli in Samaria. The patrol car was empty, and nobody was injured.
חשד לניסיון פיגוע בהר חברון: רכב פלסטיני ניסה לדרוס כח צבאי ללא הצלחה בכביש המוביל לנגוהות, הלוחמים השיבו בירי ופגעו בשני חשודים שנסעו ברכב; החשודים מתוחקרים בשטח@hod_barel pic.twitter.com/EsReCITh3f
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) September 8, 2024
The Security Cabinet, which is responsible for defense-related decisions and composed of senior ministers, gathered on Sunday to discuss the recent escalation of violence in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to add the total defeat of terrorist forces in Judea and Samaria to Jerusalem’s official goals in the war against Hamas.
Earlier on Sunday, three civilian security guards at the Allenby Bridge border crossing in the Jordan Valley were killed in a terrorist shooting. The terrorist drove a truck to the crossing from the Jordanian side, before exiting the vehicle and firing at the border guards.
A week earlier, three police officers were killed in a shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in Judea.
The next day, Israeli forces neutralized a car bomb near the entrance to the town of Ateret in Binyamin. The 100-pound explosive was intended to detonate while a school bus was passing by, security officials believe.
On Aug. 30, terrorists linked to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement carried out a twin car bombing in the Gush Etzion area of Judea, wounding two Israeli soldiers and a security guard.
In the first half of 2024, Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 terrorist attacks each month on average, according to figures published on Aug. 1 by Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria).
During that period, first responders recorded 3,272 terrorist acts in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 fire-bombings, 299 attempted bombings and 109 shootings.
Terrorists murdered 14 people and wounded more than 155 others in Judea and Samaria between January and June, the rescue group said.
