Israeli security forces have arrested a Fatah terrorist wanted for years in connection with a shooting in the South Hebron Hills, the Israel Police announced Wednesday.
Undercover officers of the police’s Gideonim unit (Unit 33), working in coordination with Israel Defense Forces troops and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), arrested the gunman inside a Hebron bank during a counter-terrorism raid in Judea, according to police.
“The unit’s fighters, in a tactical operation and with the help of special means, acted decisively and arrested him inside a bank branch before he could escape or harm them,” according to the statement.
The suspect—a member of the Tanzim terror militias, which maintain close ties with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction—was transferred to Israel Security Agency custody.
https://twitter.com/IL_police/status/1960621123067879659
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO on Feb. 17.
Hatzalah Judea and Samaria’s data, which was cross-checked against figures from Israel’s security services, included 179 shootings.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
Israel’s Security Cabinet on Tuesday discussed a proposal to shift the Jerusalem seam zone, which acts as a security buffer, closer to the pre-1967 Green Line and the Route 1 highway, Israel National News reported.
It remained unclear whether the plan would involve building a security fence or wall, or adjusting existing arrangements to give the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Iksa—approximately 0.4 miles from the highway—easier access to Ramallah, a major Palestinian city.
Ahead of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Israeli Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strook in a letter warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz against extending the security fence in the area before a vote on sovereignty.
She condemned the plan and urged the government to schedule a vote on Judea and Samaria sovereignty, Makor Rishon reported on Monday.
The Yesha Council coalition of Jewish communities joined the criticism, denouncing the plans as a “moral failure and political irresponsibility.
“Less than two years ago [with the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks], we saw that even a sophisticated fence does not protect if there is a conceptual error,” the council said in a statement cited by Makor Rishon.
“Following the Knesset decision, it is clear: sovereignty is an Israeli consensus,” it added, referencing a non-binding July 23 declaration expressing support, which received backing from 71 out of 120 MKs.
“As we said in our meeting with the prime minister last week: we call on him to come to his senses, act before it’s too late and apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria at the next Cabinet meeting,” the council stated.
Netanyahu promised regional leaders in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday night that his government’s recognition of new Jewish communities in the area “is not the end—it’s the beginning.”
“I promised 25 years ago that we would deepen our roots, and we did, together,” said Netanyahu, who was speaking at an event organized by the Binyamin Regional Council in the southern part of Samaria.
Nearly 70% of Israelis want Jerusalem to extend full legal sovereignty over the disputed territory, according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.
