In a targeted operation on Wednesday, police arrested 27 Arabs from Judea and Samaria who had illegally entered Green Line Israel.
The sweep focused on cities in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area—Bnei Brak, Givatayim, Givat Shmuel, Kiryat Ono, Or Yehuda, Ramat Gan, Savyon and Yehud.
The majority of arrests occurred in Bnei Brak, where 22 infiltrators were apprehended. The police emphasized that the operation aims to reduce both terrorist and criminal activities.
Following the arrests, authorities announced plans to examine criminal enforcement actions and consider revoking licenses for sites where the infiltrators were found.
In a statement issued by the police, a spokesperson said: “The Israel Police will examine criminal enforcement, as well as licensing actions to close the sites where the infiltrators were located. Contractors and citizens who hire residents of the Palestinian Authority without an entry and work permit are endangering both themselves and the entire Israeli public, both from a security perspective and from a criminal perspective.”
This latest sweep comes amid a series of recent incidents involving illegal Palestinian entry into Israel. In September, five Palestinians were caught trying to enter Jerusalem from the Judean Desert disguised as Jewish commuters. October saw the arrest of 16 Gazans en route to Judea and Samaria, one day after a terrorist killed a police officer.
In November, the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office indicted the owner of a Jerusalem taxi company and two drivers for transporting Palestinian terrorists involved in the October shooting at a Tel Aviv-Jaffa Light Rail station. The business owner was charged with transporting illegals under aggravated circumstances, causing death and damage by negligence, and obstruction of justice. The taxi drivers stand accused of seven counts of reckless homicide and grievous bodily harm due to their failure to question the terrorists, who were carrying an assault rifle.
On Sunday, Israeli security forces set up roadblocks on the Route 1 highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv due to a suspected terrorist incident involving Palestinians who crossed the Jewish state’s pre-1967 lines through the Jerusalem security fence from Judea.