The Israel Police closed off Route 449 in the Binyamin region of Samaria on Thursday night after a civilian reported that a pipe bomb and Molotov cocktails were thrown at him by Palestinian terrorists.
No injuries or damage were reported in the attempted attack, according to a statement from the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit. Officers were dispatched to the scene and launched a manhunt alongside soldiers.
The road, which connects Rimonim in the Binyamin region northeast of Jerusalem with Mevo’ot Yericho in the Jordan Valley, was closed off in both directions as bomb disposal and forensic teams were called in.
In a separate statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the attack targeted a vehicle on the access road to a military base near Ofra.
Troops of the Binyamin Brigade deployment area entered the nearby Arab village of Kafr Malik and imposed a “security cordon,” it stated.
Over the weekend, an IDF soldier was moderately wounded by terrorist gunfire during an overnight counter-terror operation in the Palestinian city of Nablus (Shechem) in northern Samaria.
Zaid Kharraz, a gunman who belongs to the Hamas terrorist group, was apprehended within 24 hours following a manhunt by IDF troops and Israel Security Agency officers, according to a statement on Monday.
On Dec. 29, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister within the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria, called for far-reaching counter-terror measures, including expanding military operations in the region.
Smotrich spoke several days after a Palestinian terrorist from Qabatiya, near Jenin in Samaria, murdered two Israelis and wounded two others in a series of attacks in and around the northern city of Beit She’an.
Jerusalem’s most pressing national responsibility is to confront terrorism in Judea and Samaria “at its roots,” he told JNS, urging expanded IDF operations across Palestinian “refugee” camps.
While the IDF has already been operating in these areas, Smotrich said the effort needed to be significantly expanded to include clearing the camps, relocating civilians for their protection, dismantling terrorist infrastructure and eliminating local armed groups backed by Iran.
