Palestinian Terror Wave: Israel Ramps Up Counter-Terrorism Ops In Jenin
The Israeli military and security forces launched overnight counter-terrorism operations in the city of Jenin amid reports that the Palestinian Authority is losing control over the area. The Israel Defense Forces-led operations come as a response to a string of deadly attacks in Israel carried out by terrorists coming from the Jenin region.
On Friday night, Israeli troops came under heavy fire from Palestinian terrorists as they raided suspected sites in Jenin in search of weapons caches and terrorist masterminds behind the recent wave of terror attacks that claimed 14 innocent lives.
“Armed assailants are firing at IDF and Border Police troops conducting counterterrorism activity in the Jenin Refugee Camp and the city of Jenin, endangering their lives. In response, the troops are firing towards the armed assailants,” the IDF said Saturday in a statement obtained by the Legal Insurrection.
The Israeli counter-terrorism operations began following Thursday’s attack by a Palestinian terrorist that left three dead and 15 injured when he opened fire on a bar in Tel Aviv’s city’s busy Dizengoff Street. The 29-year-old terrorist, Ra’ad Hazem, was a resident of Jenin.
The terrorist attacks, which erupted in the run-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, were carried out by terrorists with ties to the Islamic State (ISIS), Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations.
The Israeli news website Ynetnews covered the overnight counter-terrorism operation:
A Palestinian militant was killed Saturday in clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, where the troops were conducting a raid of the home belonging to the terrorist from the deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv.Three people were killed after Ra’ad Hazem, a 28-year-old Palestinian from the Jenin refugee camp, opened fire at a crowd of people sitting in a bar located on the city’s busy Dizengoff Street. The terrorist was shot dead after an eight-hour manhunt.The Palestinian health ministry said Ahmed a-Saadi – an Islamic Jihad operative – was killed during the clashes with Israeli forces. It added that five others were wounded in by Israeli gunfire.The Israeli army said the military operation was ongoing in the Jenin camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed factions in the north of the West Bank. The military is said to have surrounded the home of the Tel Aviv terrorist in order to detain Hazem’s father – a commander in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces who praised his son’s actions.
The terrorist killed in the IDF operation in Jenin was a senior operative of the Iran-funded terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). “The Palestinian media identified the dead Palestinian as Ahmed Al-Saadi. Initial reports said that he was a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Saraya Al-Quds and was a field commander of the Jenin Brigades,” The Jerusalem Post reported Saturday.
The Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas praised the slain PIJ terrorist in Jenin and called for escalation of violence throughout the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority. “We salute the young people of Jenin who are carrying out courageous acts of heroism that define the next stage in the conflict with Israel,” Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhum, said. He also called for “the conflict to extend to all West Bank cities and villages.”
The Israeli military is reportedly beefing up border security to prevent further terrorist intruders from crossing into Israel. “The IDF held an operational assessment on Saturday after which officials decided to make it more difficult to break through the barrier separating Israel and the West Bank,” the Israeli TV channel i24News reported.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY