Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Illustrative. Israeli soldiers take part in operations in the West Bank. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli troops operated extensively throughout the West Bank in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning, arresting 19 people and clashing with Palestinian residents.
Outside the northern West Bank city of Nablus, soldiers also found a pipe bomb that had been placed along the road, the Israel Defense Forces said.
“Engineering forces arrived at the site and removed the explosive device in order to disarm it. There were no injuries, and no damage was caused,” the army said in a statement.
Nearby, the IDF escorted a group of some 1,200 Jewish worshipers to the Joseph’s Tomb pilgrimage site in Nablus.
A pipe bomb that was found and disarmed by Israeli security forces along a road near the West Bank city of Nablus on September 24, 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)
“The prayers were held as organized,” the military said.
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According to the IDF, the 19 Palestinians were suspected of a variety of offenses including participating in riots, rock-throwing, and involvement in terrorist activities.
During one of those overnight raids, in Halhul, near Hebron, Palestinian residents threw rocks at IDF jeeps, causing two of the vehicles to crash.
Video of the incident that was shared on social media (above) shows residents of the village throwing large stones at the jeeps, smashing one of their windscreens and forcing the vehicle to stop suddenly.
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Another jeep fails to brake in time and hits the back of the first vehicle.
No injuries were reported.
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