IDF Says Five Palestinians Planning Attack Arrested in West Bank Commando Raid

Israeli commandos arrested five Palestinians in Qabatiya after entering locations where the military said the suspects were planning an attack against Israeli civilians and security forces. The Duvdevan Commando Unit carried out the dawn raid after intelligence from the Shin Bet.

The Israel Defense Forces said the commandos captured the five men less than 10 minutes after entering the suspected locations. The suspects were transferred for Shin Bet questioning. The military reported no injuries and said searches of their homes uncovered an assault rifle, ammunition and military equipment.

The IDF also said it had completed a separate 48-hour counterterrorism operation in and around Nablus in the northern West Bank. Troops, guided by the Shin Bet, searched hundreds of locations, questioned dozens of suspects and arrested more than 10 wanted individuals, according to the military.

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who planned to carry out an attack against Israeli civilians and security forces.

The operation produced weapons-manufacturing equipment as well as rifles, handguns and ammunition. The army said troops destroyed more than 30 lathes used to make weapons. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Nablus operation, saying, “I congratulate our forces on a successful operation in Samaria, in which they destroyed dozens of workshops for the production of weapons, seized dozens of weapons, and arrested wanted individuals involved in terrorism.”

The article places the raids against a backdrop of sharply increased violence in the West Bank. It says most recent violence has involved settler attacks on Palestinians, alongside several attacks by Palestinian assailants on Israelis. Critics accuse the IDF and Netanyahu’s government of tolerating or encouraging Israeli violence against Palestinians.

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I congratulate our forces on a successful operation in Samaria, in which they destroyed dozens of workshops for the production of weapons, seized dozens of weapons, and arrested wanted individuals involved in terrorism.