IDF, police find assault rifles, knives in West Bank raids

Israeli security forces made multiple arrests and confiscated several assault rifles and other weapons in raids on several Palestinian towns Monday night, an army official said.

Soldiers from the Kfir Brigade’s Duchifat Battalion located a weaponry cache in T’lat, a small town south of the West Bank city of Qalqilya, during an operation to arrest Palestinians suspected of taking part in violent demonstrations.

The cache included an M-16 assault rifle, a handgun, sniper scopes and hunting rifles, ammunition and knives, an IDF spokeswoman told The Times of Israel.

As the investigation was still ongoing, the IDF would not officially name the organization they believe to be responsible, but a Fatah flag as well as other propaganda material for the Palestinian group’s militant wing were also found on the scene.

In a separate operation in the West Bank, officers from the Shin Bet security service and the Yamas — the Israel Police’s undercover unit — located another weapon stash in Jenin.

The officers arrived at the refugee camp in order to arrest two suspected terrorists believed to have been planning an attack against Israeli forces: Qais Sayyidi, a 24-year-old Hamas operative, who had previously shot at IDF troops and who created and distributed IEDs and other weapons; and Tayir Jardath, a 29-year-old member of Islamic Jihad.

While making the arrests, the officers found multiple M-16 assault rifle, a handgun, a carbine conversion kit for the handgun (which greatly improves its accuracy), stun grenades, explosive charges, night vision equipment and ammunition.

“This is truly a lot of weaponry,” the IDF spokeswoman said.

IDF, police and Shin Bet security service forces arrested a total of 44 Palestinians Monday night for their involvement in violent demonstrations or terror activity.

Among those arrested was Kis Sa’adi, 24, who the IDF described as a “known Hamas operative.”

“Sa’adi has fired at Security forces, manufactured and planted IEDs, and has been involved in weapon trafficking” the army said in a statement. “In additional forces arrested Tair Jaradat, a 29-year-old Islamic Jihad operative from the Jenin refugee camp.”

On Tuesday, Israeli police arrested two Palestinian women in possession of large knives near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The two refused a search and began shouting, “We have come to free Palestine” at the Tzalbanit checkpoint near the holy site, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. Border Police officers on the scene arrested the pair and found two knives in one of the women’s purse.

They were taken to the Hebron district police station for further questioning.

In another incident Tuesday, Jerusalem Police detectives noticed an Arab teenager walking “in a suspicious way” behind some police officers in the Old City, Samri said.

The detectives stopped the 15-year-old and found a ruler that had been carved and sharpened into a shank.

The teen, a resident of the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, was arrested and brought to the nearby David District police station for questioning.

“All of the police officers, detectives and border guards, who spread throughout Jerusalem and the Old City, are working vigilantly and alertly to thwart any attempt to injure innocent people,” said the district commander, Doron Turgeman.

The incidents came amid a spate of attacks, including knifings and vehicular assaults, against Israelis in Israel and the West Bank. At least nine Israelis have been killed since unrest broke out amid Palestinian allegations that Israel has been seeking to change the status quo in Jerusalem’s volatile Temple Mount compound, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and is holy to both Jews and Muslims. Israel has persistently denied the claims.

Over 50 Palestinians were killed, many of them while carrying out attacks against Israelis. Others were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank and along the Gaza border.