Israeli security forces seized a large amount of bomb-making material during a counter-terrorism raid in Qabatiya near Jenin in northern Samaria, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday.
During the operation in Qabatiya, IDF soldiers also confiscated “combat equipment used by terrorists,” as well as weapons, the military stated. In addition, 12 suspected Palestinian terrorists were arrested.
The detainees, along with their seized weapons, were transferred to the Israel Police and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for further questioning and investigation, according to the IDF statement.
In a separate counter-terror raid in the Palestinian town of Al-Ram, in the Binyamin region of Samaria just northeast of Jerusalem, soldiers located a “significant weapons stockpile,” including an explosive device and a large quantity of ammunition, it added.
In a statement, the Yesha Council umbrella group, which represents the some 500,000 Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, urged the Israeli government to order the army to “enter the centers of Arab cities [in Judea and Samaria] and maintain permanent control there.
“As we warned in recent years, due to the policy of terror containment, the Palestinians have cultivated a massive terror operation throughout Judea and Samaria, with Iranian guidance and assistance, which includes knowledge and weaponry,” chairman Israel Ganz said.
“Recently, the IDF, at the orders of the political echelon, made a positive shift in security policy, and we call for increasing the level of activity,” he said, adding that only a permanent IDF military presence in Palestinian Authority-controlled cities could “prevent bus explosions in the streets and stamp out Palestinians who are organizing the next massacre.”
On Jan. 21, the IDF launched “Operation Iron Wall,” which seeks to neutralize the threat posed by terror hotbeds such as Tulkarem and Jenin in Samaria. The ongoing counter-terror operations mark a change in Jerusalem’s security strategy, Defense Minister Israel Katz has stated.
Earlier that month, Israeli security forces seized a 220-pound bomb that a Palestinian terrorist cell had planned to use against soldiers in Judea and Samaria, the IDF revealed in a statement published on Feb. 25. Such weapons have the ability to destroy an IDF Merkava tank.
The Israeli military has intensified its raids following the Feb. 20 failed bus bombings near Tel Aviv. Three empty buses exploded, and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a coordinated terror attack. At least one of the bombs reportedly bore a note, in Arabic and Hebrew, that stated, “Revenge from the Tulkarem refugee camp.”
On Tuesday, Israeli security forces killed three terrorists and arrested 10 others, including a senior operative, in the Qabatiya and Jenin areas.
Among the 10 terrorists arrested was Liwaa Jaaz, a senior operative in the Jenin-based terror network. Israeli security forces also located and destroyed two vehicles loaded with weapons intended for use in attacks.
