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Terrorists try to ambush IDF soldiers in Jordan Valley

According to an initial IDF assessment, the terrorists sought to draw Israeli forces toward a side road where several explosive devices were planted.

Israeli soldiers at the Beka'ot checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley, June 26, 2015. Photo by Basel Safadi/Flash90.
Israeli soldiers at the Beka’ot checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley, June 26, 2015. Photo by Basel Safadi/Flash90.

Palestinian terrorists this week attempted to ambush Israel Defense Forces troops in the Jordan Valley with remotely detonated roadside bombs, the military revealed on Wednesday.

An initial assessment shows that the terrorists tried to draw soldiers toward a side road where several explosive devices were planted, the IDF said.

On Monday, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the agricultural community of Beka’ot in the northern Jordan Valley, according to the army. The suspects fled the scene before security forces arrived.

The next day, Wednesday, members of the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps’ Unit 636 stationed in the area killed a terrorist after he returned to the site in an attempt to carry out another shooting.

“Earlier today, IDF forces conducted searches in the area of the shooting with the goal of removing additional threats,” the army said Wednesday.

“During the searches, engineering forces and trackers of the Bekaa and Emekim Brigade located and destroyed four explosive devices along with other electronic devices planted at the site,” the statement added.

In the first six months of 2024, medical authorities recorded 3,272 terror attacks in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 fire-bombings, 299 IED charges and 109 shootings.

On June 23, Arab terrorists in Samaria remotely detonated explosives near the security fence with the goal of attracting Israeli soldiers to the area of the blast and attacking them upon arrival, according to the IDF.

Akiva Van Koningsveld is a news desk editor for JNS.org. Originally from The Hague, he made the big move from the Netherlands to Israel in 2020. Before joining JNS, he worked as a policy officer at the Center for Information and Documentation Israel, a Dutch organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism and spreading awareness about the Arab-Israel conflict. With a passion for storytelling and justice, he studied journalism at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and later earned a law degree from Utrecht University, focusing on human rights and civil liability.
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