Two IDF soldiers injured in Tubas blast amid surge in Judea, Samaria attacks

Two Israeli troops were moderately wounded on Saturday when a terrorist threw an explosive device at them in Tubas, northeastern Samaria, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The soldiers were evacuated to hospital for medical treatment and their families were updated, the IDF said. The military continues to operate in the Tubas area following the attack, the statement added.

The attack, the third of its kind in as many days, came amid a reported uptick in Palestinian terrorist violence across Judea and Samaria.

On Friday night, residents of the Mevaser Shalom outpost near Evyatar in northern Samaria reported gunfire directed at them as they patrolled the community’s perimeter, Israel National News reported on Saturday.

One of the bullets reportedly hit a few meters away from the residents, but they emerged unscathed and were able to alert the security forces.

In security camera footage, the residents can be seen running and crouching as at least one of the shots hits a wall only a few meters away.

Subsequent searches of the area led to the discovery of 15 shell casings, and the IDF blocked roads as it launched a manhunt, INN reported.

Overnight Thursday, the “Ramallah Battalion” of the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group claimed that it had targeted an Israeli vehicle with gunfire on the Route 60 highway in Samaria’s south.

The IDF announced that it was probing the alleged attack, which was reported to have been carried out from the Arab village of Ein Yabrud.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Yesha Council of Judea and Samaria communities demanded clarification from the IDF on Saturday evening after armed Palestinian Authority police entered Area C, which is under Jerusalem’s exclusive control, near the Jerusalem-area town of Geva Binyamin.

“More than once have we seen how PA ‘police’ have carried out serious terror attacks, and we are not willing to accept a situation where armed men are roaming the [Binyamin Regional] Council, near Israeli towns,” said Yesha Council leader Israel Ganz in a statement after Shabbat.

According to Israel Hayom, some 20 armed P.A. officers arrived at the entrance to Geva Binyamin and opened fire without IDF approval, claiming that they were pursuing a Palestinian murder suspect.

The IDF’s Binyamin Brigade deployment zone, which is responsible for the area’s security, was reportedly unaware that P.A. personnel had entered Area C without permission, as required under the 1990s Oslo Accords.

Almost 80 members of the U.S.-trained and armed P.A. forces have been implicated in terrorism against Israeli civilians and military personnel between 2021 and 2023 alone, according to research published by the Jerusalem-based Regavim Movement think tank in March 2024.

In total, Palestinian terrorists targeted Israelis in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to data published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO on Feb. 17.

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.