IDF launches broad counterterror operation in northern West Bank

Israeli forces launched a wide-scale counterterror operation in the northern West Bank overnight, the military and Shin Bet security agency announced on Wednesday morning.

The raid was taking place in several Palestinian towns and villages in the northeast of the West Bank, including Tubas, Tammun, and al-Aqaba.

Palestinian media reported that a curfew was imposed in the area, and several roads were blocked by bulldozers that created mounds of earth.

“The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet won’t allow terror to become established in the area and are working actively to thwart it,” the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement.

The operation was being carried out by the equivalent of three IDF brigades, and included forces from the Commando Brigade and Samaria and Menashe regional brigades, alongside Border Police officers.

Israeli Air Force helicopters were also deployed amid the operation, with the IDF reporting that strikes were carried out before the troops entered the towns, to “isolate the area and cordon it off.”

In a later statement, the IDF said that the operation was launched in response to efforts by Palestinian terror groups to establish a presence in the area.

After the airstrikes, the military said troops began to scan dozens of buildings and interrogate suspects in the towns, amid a search for terror operatives and weapons.

At one location, the IDF said soldiers located a surveillance camera station used by terror operatives, along with cash.

Palestinian media reported that some two dozen people were arrested in the area, including Samir Basharat, the mayor of Tammun.

Meanwhile, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its medics tended to 10 people wounded amid the operation. Four of those people were taken to a hospital, the Red Crescent said.

Tubas Mayor Mahmoud Daraghmah said that the IDF had imposed a curfew and shut down roads leading to the town, and that “Apache helicopters fired toward the population this morning.”

He said Israeli forces also seized five homes in Tubas and another 10 homes in Tammun.

The operation was expected to last several days, similar to other operations carried out in Palestinian villages during the past two years. However, unlike raids in several northern West Bank refugee camps earlier this year, the IDF was not expected to order the wide evacuation of civilians.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. 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, 63 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF has recorded more than 752 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence since the start of the year. The total for 2024 was 675 incidents.