IDF arrests alleged Palestinian terror cell planning ‘imminent attack’
No reports of soldiers hurt during operation in northern West Bank city of Jenin; footage shows bomb detonated near army vehicle
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Israeli forces on Tuesday morning captured an alleged Palestinian terror cell planning an “imminent attack” during a raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the military said.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, troops of the elite Duvdevan unit, the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance battalion, and the Yamas — the Border Police’s elite undercover counter-terrorism unit — entered Jenin and detained the five suspects.
The troops seized “military equipment” and returned fire at Palestinian gunmen who were shooting at them and hurling explosive devices during the operation, the IDF said.
A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed its members opened fire and activated explosives against the Israeli forces.
Footage published by Palestinian media outlets showed an improvised bomb being detonated near an IDF vehicle. There were no reports of soldiers hurt.
The IDF said Palestinian gunmen were hit by troops’ gunfire. The Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency said one Palestinian was wounded by shrapnel.
شاهد| تفجير عبوة مباشرة في جيبات الاحتلال خلال اقتحامها لجنين. pic.twitter.com/NU3zy2ab4f
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) April 11, 2023
According to the IDF, the five suspects were part of a “terror cell that planned to carry out an attack in an immediate time frame.”
Surveillance camera footage shared online showed one of the suspects being detained.
تغطية صحفية| لحظة اعتقا.ل الشاب "عبد الله البطل" بعد اقتحام. مدينة جنين صباح اليوم. pic.twitter.com/Pv3zvkVR3G
— Jmedia (@Jmediaps) April 11, 2023
Two additional suspects were arrested in other areas of the West Bank during overnight raids, the IDF said.
Troops, meanwhile, were still searching for the Palestinian terrorists who carried out a deadly shooting attack in the Jordan Valley on Friday, and they were thought to be hiding in the northern West Bank.
The raids on Tuesday came as tensions have soared across the region in recent days, with a rocket attack from Syria on Saturday night; a barrage of rockets from Lebanon on Thursday; tit-for-tat rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Israeli strikes over the past week; clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Temple Mount; terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank; and a suspected Iranian drone launched from Syria last week.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been high for the past year, with the IDF conducting near-nightly raids in the West Bank amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
At least 90 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under circumstances that are being investigated.
Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank have left 19 people dead since the beginning of the year.
