“The IDF and Shin Bet will not allow terrorism to take root in the area and are acting proactively to thwart it,” a joint statement affirmed.
The IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police officers began conducting a “broad counterterrorism operation” in the northern West Bank, a joint IDF-Shin Bet statement said on Wednesday morning.
“The IDF and Shin Bet will not allow terrorism to take root in the area and are acting proactively to thwart it,” the agencies stated.
The announcement follows days of heightened Israeli security activity in the West Bank, particularly in the northern area.
Following the IDF and Shin Bet’s announcement, Palestinian Authority-run media outlet Wafa reported Israeli forces operated in Tubas, Aqaba, and Tammun. The outlet claimed Israeli forces raided several homes, damaging and ransacking their contents, while bringing in heavy military reinforcements.
According to Wafa, bulldozers blocked main and secondary roads with mounds of earth, and military procedures were tightened at the Tayasir and Hamra checkpoints, restricting citizens’ movement and creating traffic jams.
IDF soldiers during an operation in the West Bank. (credit: IDF)
The Palestinian source also reported that helicopters fired intermittently during the operation, though no injuries were reported.
Recent Israeli security activity in the northern West Bank
On Tuesday, Israeli forces engaged and killed Sultan al-Ghani, the terrorist responsible for the 2024 murder of Israeli security guard Gideon Perry, in an area near Jenin in the northern West Bank.
Five other suspects were arrested, and the forces seized firearms, explosives, and other ordnance during the operation.
Earlier, on Monday, operating in the northern West Bank City of Nablus, Israeli troops killed Ala Raouf Shetiyya, the terrorist responsible for the 2024 deaths of two IDF Kfir Brigade soldiers. According to the military, St.-Sgt. Eliya Hilel and St.-Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj from Tel Aviv, of the Paratroopers’ 101st Battalion, were killed in a ramming attack perpetrated by Shetiyya.
This is a developing story.