The Israeli military is bolstering its presence in the West Bank amid a spate of Palestinian terrorist attacks. The Israel Defense Forces deployed more troops after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers, aged 19 and 21, passing by the Palestinian town of Huwara.
“Hillel and Yagel Yaniv were killed Sunday after a Palestinian terrorist approached their vehicle, which was stuck in a traffic jam, and shot the two from point-blank range,” the Israeli news website Ymet reported.
Palestinians celebrated the murder of the Israeli brothers by distributing sweets amid chants of “Allahu Akbar,” video clips posted on Twitter show.
Israelis from the nearby neighborhoods clashed with the local Palestinians. “Despite promising statements, angered Israeli settlers in nearby communities later that night descended on the Palestinian town where the terrorist attack happened. At least one Palestinian was killed in the clashes, with Israeli forces arresting six people over the chaos,” the Israeli TV channel i24news reported.
Palestinian rioters reportedly set fire to the tomb of the biblical prophet Jacob located outside Nablus, a city controlled by the Palestinian Authority. “The Palestinians report late Sunday that Joseph’s Tomb was set on fire, and Israel is looking into the reports,” the Ynet reported.
This is not the first attack of this kind. In April 2022, a Palestinian mob vandalized and set fire to the sacred tomb.
The Times of Israel reported the IDF mobilization after Sunday’s terrorist attack:
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday morning said it was bolstering its West Bank division by a third infantry battalion after two were deployed following a terrorist attack that killed two Israeli brothers in the West Bank town of Huwara a day earlier and subsequent violent settler rioting in the area in which a Palestinian was killed.The IDF was continuing a manhunt for a Palestinian gunman who carried out the attack on Sunday morning, killing Hallel and Yagel Yaniv as they drove through Huwara, a Palestinian town regularly traversed by Israeli motorists and often a flashpoint of tensions. (…)The military said that as “part of the expanding security activity” in the Nablus area, the army would “increase security checks on routes leading in and out of the city.” The 202nd Paratrooper Battalion was deployed on Sunday evening, the 435th Battalion of the Givati Brigade was deployed on Monday morning, and the 846th Givati Reconnaissance Battalion was to also be deployed on Monday.
Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, often maligned by the mainstream media as a “far-right” politician, urged Israelis to maintain peace in the face of repeated terrorist attacks. “I understand the pain, but we must not take the law into our hands,” the minister said.
The i24news on Monday reported Ben-Gvir’s plea for calm:
During a meeting of his Jewish Power party at the Evyatar outpost in the West Bank, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told Israeli citizens not to take the law into their own hands.”The attack yesterday is a severe and shocking attack that should teach us all that we are at war. This is not a war from yesterday and it is not a war that will end in one day, but it is a war that must inspire us all to adopt a policy of a real war on terror,” the minister stated, referring to the Huwara terror attack that left two Israelis dead.
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