Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly wounded by an explosive device in the Tulkarem area of western Samaria on Thursday afternoon.
A military vehicle was hit during counter-terrorism activity “as a result of the detonation of an explosive device at the security fence,” the IDF said.
“IDF soldiers are encircling the city, conducting roadblocks and inspections in the area. Details to follow,” the statement added.
The army subsequently announced that the soldiers were wounded when an explosive hit their “Panther” armored personnel carrier.
The incident took place near the Nitzanei Oz Crossing west of Tulkarem.
“IDF forces from the Ephraim Brigade continue conducting searches in the area,” according to the second statement.
Tulkarem, a Palestinian terrorist hub in Samaria, east of Netanya, where Israeli forces have been conducting intensive counter-terror raids this year, is located eight miles from the densely populated coastal plain.
In June 2024, Palestinian terrorists remotely detonated powerful explosive devices in Shuweika, a satellite village of Tulkarem, near the fence bordering the Israeli town of Bat Hefer. The blast took place 60 meters (197 feet) from the fence and was preceded by rifle fire toward central Israel, according to the Kan News broadcaster.
The charges were “placed and activated remotely by terrorists hundreds of meters from the wall,” the IDF said, adding that the blasts were staged “to attract forces to the area” and attack them upon arrival.
Three days after Palestinian terrorists murdered six people at a northern Jerusalem bus stop, IDF troops continued on Thursday to crack down on Arab terrorism, conducting operations across Judea and Samaria.
Hamas gunmen Mohammad Taha and Muthanna Amro, who were killed at the scene by an Israeli soldier working together with an armed civilian, are believed to have infiltrated the pre-1967 armistice line through a breach in the Samaria security fence, likely in the northern Jerusalem area.
Ynet reported that Israeli police officers on Thursday opened fire at two Palestinians as they attempted to cross into Jerusalem using the same breach in the fence that the Hamas terrorist used earlier this week.
The two Palestinians, illegally in Israel, were reportedly evacuated for medical treatment in an Israeli hospital after being fired at by police.
Ynet reporters on Wednesday saw breaches in the barrier near Jerusalem, two days after the terrorist attack, with only one police patrol passing during an hour-long visit and no other security forces present.
The Hamas terrorist organization on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the previous day’s shooting attack that saw six Israeli Jews killed, and over a dozen wounded, at the Ramot Junction in northern Jerusalem.
Hamas praised the two gunmen for having succeeded in “killing Zionists and wounding others, some of them critically, before ascending to their Lord as martyrs, facing the enemy without turning back.”
The IDF announced on Tuesday that it had expanded counter-terror operations across Judea and Samaria in the wake of Monday’s attack.
