Israeli forces apprehend 40 Palestinian suspects after deadly Hebron attack

Israeli security forces arrested some 40 Palestinian suspects across Judea and Samaria over the weekend in counterterrorism operations that spanned over 400 areas, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday night.

Among those detained are Palestinians affiliated with the terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as suspects involved in incitement, public disorder and rock-hurling, the military said.

In Judea, Israeli forces continue to operate “extensively” at dozens of locations in Hebron and Halhul, from where a terrorist attack was carried out on Friday, claiming the lives of two IDF soldiers. Some 20 suspects have already been apprehended in this area, the IDF said.

A brigade-level operation executed in the Gush Etzion region, in the Judean Mountains north of Hebron, resulted in the arrest of suspects involved in planting explosive devices and advancing terrorist activity, including Hamas operatives, according to the army.

In Samaria, IDF soldiers and Border Police officers dismantled memorials commemorating terrorists who took part in attacks in which Israeli civilians were killed, the military continued.

The forces apprehended two suspects involved in a terrorist attack against Israeli civilians in the area of Burin and confiscated a hunting rifle used by suspects in the area of Silat al-Dhahr, southwest of Jenin.

In the Binyamin area of Samaria, north of Jerusalem, IDF soldiers detained Palestinian terrorists affiliated with Hamas and individuals involved in public disorder in some 15 different locations, the IDF went on to say.

Troops moreover apprehended several suspects in the Ephraim region, which roughly stretches from Ramallah to Nablus in central Samaria.

“The security forces will continue to operate with determination to prevent the entrenchment of terrorism in the area and thwart any threat to Israeli civilians,” the IDF stated.

Three detained over praise for terrorist shooting

Also in Hebron, the Israel Police arrested three residents from the Palestinian city on suspicion of online incitement and support for the Hamas terror group in the wake of Friday’s deadly shooting, the force said on Sunday.

One of the Palestinians arrested in the overnight raid posted a photo of the gunmen who killed the two Israeli soldiers with the caption “The right is mine and the land is mine, you have no place on our land,” according to police.

A second suspect called the attack “Operation Hebron,” and the third shared calls for Arab and Islamic armies to wage war against the “Zionist occupiers.”

Officers from the Hetz Yehuda unit of the Judea and Samaria Police District’s Yasam Special Patrol Unit raided the suspects’ homes. Their social media activity had been tracked by the IDF Central Command.

Officers seized the suspects’ phones and computers, and the three men were taken to the Hebron police station for questioning.

‘Daring’ counterterrorism plan for Judea and Samaria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that he instructed the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) to draw up a “daring and comprehensive” plan unlike anything seen since the Six-Day War in 1967, aimed at uprooting terrorism in Judea and Samaria.

He spoke during an interview with broadcaster Channel 14, in which he was asked about the deadly shooting attack on Friday.

Explaining his directive to the IDF and the Shin Bet, Netanyahu said that his government knows that “the Palestinian Authority is a body hostile to the State of Israel that seeks to eliminate us in various ways.”

On Oct. 6, Defense Minister Israel Katz told ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting that the IDF been ordered to prepare for a scenario in which P.A. security forces and the Fatah-affiliated Tanzim organization “turn their guns” against Israeli civilians and IDF troops in Judea and Samaria.

“In such a case, war would be declared against the Palestinian Authority, and the IDF would launch a comprehensive offensive in accordance with a detailed plan formulated and approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by me,” Katz said, adding that the campaign “would be short and forceful” and modeled on the Gaza and Lebanon campaigns.

Meanwhile, on the backdrop of heightened security tensions in the region, the IDF decided to implement a two-day entry ban on Palestinian workers into Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley that will start on Sunday, the military said.

Industrial zones and a limited number of other approved areas are excluded from the ban, the IDF added.

In addition, a ban was approved by the government on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones, as well as the closure of all land crossings, throughout Election Day on Oct. 27, the military said.