Car bomb outside West Bank settlement neutralized by cops
Police say tinted windows on suspicious vehicle near Ateret made explosives hard to see, days after two car bombs exploded in southern West Bank
An abandoned car laden with explosives was neutralized by security forces at the entrance to a West Bank settlement on Monday, authorities said.
The attempted attack occurred with Israeli security officials in the West Bank and elsewhere on high alert following a twin car-bomb attack Friday night, with the Hamas terror group urging more such blasts.
Troops taking part in a routine patrol in the area were scrambled to the entrance of the Ateret settlement in the central West Bank Monday morning after the army received a report of a suspicious-looking vehicle near the community, the IDF spokesperson said.
Military forces initially had trouble determining what was inside the vehicle due to its tinted windows, according to a statement from the Israel Police. A Border Police bomb disposal unit called to the scene identified it as a car bomb before “neutralizing the vehicle,” police said.
According to the Binyamin Regional Council, where Ateret is located, the car contained two gas canisters that were connected to a detonation mechanism, which was neutralized by the bomb disposal unit.
Israel Ganz, the chairman of the Yesha settlement council, called the thwarted attack “a huge miracle.” He called on security forces to carry out a large-scale operation in the region, which covers a wide swath of the West Bank around Ramallah, and to “raze the terror infrastructure to the ground.”
Army Radio reported later on Monday afternoon that the bombs were taken to a nearby hill and exploded. Ateret’s residents, who had been told not to go out, were subsequently told it was safe to leave the settlement.
On Sunday, three Israeli police officers were shot dead by a Palestinian gunman near the Palestinian city of Tarqumiyah.
Two days before that, two car bombs exploded near settlements in the southern West Bank, moderately wounding an IDF soldier and lightly wounding two others.
Hamas took responsibility for the dual car bombing attack Monday and said that the two terrorists, who were killed by troops at the scene, were members of the group. Both were from Hebron.
In a speech in Istanbul last week, former Hamas head Khaled Mashaal called for the resumption of suicide attacks, according to reports in Arabic media.
Tensions in the already volatile West Bank have soared since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas, following the terror group’s October 7 assault in which 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and 251 taken hostage.
תיעוד: ניטרול בלוני הגז שאותרו ברכב התופת בכניסה ליישוב עטרת pic.twitter.com/CVQrdzSk7q
— הוד בראל Hod Barel (@hod_barel) September 2, 2024
Last week, the IDF launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank, following a number of recent terror attacks, including an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last month.
The IDF said Sunday that so far amid its ongoing operation in the northern West Bank, some 30 Palestinian gunmen have been killed. One Israeli soldier was also killed during fierce clashes in Jenin.
Since October 7, 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.
