Israel thwarts ‘imminent terrorist attack’ in northern Samaria

Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on terrorist cells in Jenin and Qabatiya in northern Samaria on Saturday, thwarting an “imminent terrorist attack,” the military said on Sunday morning.

Secondary explosions were observed after the Israeli Air Force strike in Qabatiya, indicating the presence of explosives in the terrorists’ vehicle. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the cell had been en route to carry out an attack.

The strike neutralized terrorists Saleh Zakarneh and Abed al-Hadi Kamil, the latter of whom was released by Israel in November 2023 as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

An IAF aircraft also carried out two strikes against armed terrorist cells in Jenin.

The strikes come amid a large-scale Israeli counterterror operation launched last month to destroy terrorist infrastructure in Jenin and surrounding areas in northern Samaria.

Dubbed “Iron Wall,” the operation includes IDF troops, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officers and Border Police.

The IDF has expanded its 12-day counterterrorism operation from Jenin and Tulkarem, now focusing on the town of Tamun, the army said on Sunday morning.

Fighters from the IDF’s 450th battalion entered the town overnight, uncovering several weapons, including an M-16 rifle and magazines. This follows a drone strike last week that killed 10 Palestinian terrorists in Tamun.

Israeli forces will remain in Jenin after the operation winds down, to ensure that the situation in the northern Samaria city “will not return to what it was,” according to a statement released by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office last week.

The statement, which followed a visit by Katz with Israeli forces operating in Jenin, went on to emphasize that the goal of the operation was to destroy “terror infrastructure built in the Palestinian refugee camps with funding and weapons from Iran.”

On Monday, the IDF eliminated the head of the Hamas terrorist organization’s Tulkarem branch.

According to the military, Ihab Abu Atiwa participated in multiple shootings, including an attack on a vehicle at the Ramin Junction on July 16, 2024, which wounded three Israelis.