Ben Gvir blames deadly West Bank shooting on Gallant for easing Palestinians’ travel
Israelis’ ‘right to life trumps PA residents’ freedom of movement,’ says minister; Smotrich urges preemptive military operation in southern West Bank
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir blamed the shooting that killed three police officers in the West Bank Sunday morning on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s “orders to open roadblocks for the Palestinians.”
In a statement from the scene of the shooting, near the Palestinian city of Tarqumiyah, the far-right minister reiterated his position that Israelis’ “right to life trumps Palestinian Authority residents’ freedom of movement.” Ben Gvir said that when Gallant tries to ease Palestinian travel, “the result is the murder of Jews.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking later from the same area, also called on the army “to bring back the roadblocks and break free of the ‘conception,'” a word the right wing has used to denote the security establishment’s standard practices, which they blame for the failures that led to the October 7 attack.
The minister also urged the expansion of ongoing IDF operations in the northern West Bank to the territory’s south, where Sunday’s shooting took place.
According to Smotrich, Israel has a growing amount of signal intelligence indicating a similar attack to the Hamas assault from Gaza was being planned for central Israel and the southern West Bank was imminent.
“We need to do now what we didn’t do on that awful night,” he said. “Begin a preemptive strike and deal terrorism a forceful blow.”
After October 7 — when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza — the IDF increased its roadblocks throughout the West Bank, all but putting Palestinians in the area on lockdown.
The military began loosening its restrictions in March, which coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, eliciting an angry response from right-wing ministers.
During the Gaza war, troops have arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 29 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
