Security forces shutter West Bank weapons workshop

An Israeli security forces operation overnight uncovered an illegal weapons-making workshop in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, along with ammunition and bullet magazines, the IDF said in a statement on Thursday.

The joint IDF, Border Police, and Shin Bet security services raid of the town that borders Jerusalem also found parts of weapons manufactured in the illegal workshop.

Machinery was confiscated and the site was sealed off by the army, the IDF said.

Over the past two years, the IDF and Israel Police have stepped up their efforts to combat the creation and distribution of illicit weapons in the West Bank. A similar workshop was found in Abu Dis and shut down last April.

Security forces also entered the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the West Bank and entered the home of Saleh Omar Abd al-Rahim Sah, a Palestinian who attempted to stab Israeli soldiers outside the IDF’s Samaria Regional Brigade headquarters on Wednesday. Members of Sah’s family were questioned about the incident, during which the Palestinian assailant was shot before he could injure the soldiers.

Overnight, security forces also arrested 14 wanted Palestinian suspects. Ten were arrested on suspicion of involvement in violent rioting against Israeli civilians and security forces. The IDF statement did not specify why the other four suspects were arrested.

All of the detainees were handed over for questioning.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.