Israeli security forces on Friday concluded a two-week counter-terrorism operation in Samaria, during which they killed six terrorists and apprehended dozens of wanted suspects, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Troops seized hundreds of thousands of shekels used to fund terrorist activity, along with dozens of weapons, including pistols, M16 rifles, Carlo-type improvised guns, ammunition and knives.
More than 30 targeted strikes were carried out, as well as several operations conducted with Israeli Air Force support.
In one case, Maglan Unit commandoes found weapons in Tammun and Far’a concealed inside large pots at the entrances of suspects’ homes. They also uncovered incitement materials and Hamas-supporting books.
In the Jenin camp, Combat Engineering Corps troops located and dismantled explosive devices and other weapons. They also demolished two terrorists’ residences simultaneously at separate locations.
On Thursday, soldiers in the city of Qalqilya, east of Kfar Saba, killed a terrorist who posed an immediate threat by throwing a suspicious object in their direction. Troops also apprehended weapons dealers, known terrorists and suspects involved in the production of explosive devices.
Earlier this week, the IDF detained Ahmad Nasrallah, a senior Palestinian arms dealer, in Tulkarem’s Irtah neighborhood.
On Nov. 26, the Israeli military launched “Operation Five Stones,” aimed at countering the terrorist threat emanating from Palestinian villages and cities in western and northern Samaria. Security forces had already intensified operations across Judea and Samaria following the failed Feb. 20 terror bombings in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, in which three empty buses exploded and additional devices were discovered on two others.
“Operation Five Stones” aimed to maintain the IDF’s freedom of action in the region and prevent terrorist elements from entrenching themselves, the military said.
On Tuesday, two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded in a Palestinian terrorist attack outside the community of Ateret in Samaria’s Binyamin region. In a separate terrorist attack overnight Monday, a soldier sustained injuries in a vehicular assault at the Judea Junction in the Hebron area.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures published by Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria). The group’s data did not include the hundreds of attacks targeting Israeli security personnel during counter-terror raids in Palestinian Authority–controlled cities and towns.
Twenty-seven Israelis were killed in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded.
