Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar reportedly urged the government to approve a major IDF counterterrorism operation in the West Bank, warning of the increasingly lethal capabilities of assailants.
According to a Channel 12 news report, Bar made the entreaty during a meeting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held with a small group of ministers and security chiefs in the wake of a shooting attack Monday in which three Israelis were killed.
The IDF has already been carrying out near-daily raids throughout the West Bank and in recent weeks, it has been joined by the Palestinian Authority, which is carrying out an unprecedented operation of its own in the Jenin refugee camp, which has become a hotbed for Iran-backed armed groups.
Bar however appeared to argue for Israel to ramp up the intensity of operations.
“The significant decrease in the number of attacks in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] is deceptive and does not reflect the scope of terrorism on the ground. We identify a consistent escalating trend from [2021] where attackers have shifted from throwing Molotov cocktails to using rifles and explosive devices,” he was quoted as having said during the meeting.
“Israel should learn from October 7 and not allow the intensification of these terrorist elements. Therefore a broad, reality-changing move must be initiated that will collapse and eliminate the phenomenon of the armed Palestinian battalions in Judea and Samaria in order to ensure our freedom of operation there,” he reportedly added.
Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, attends a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The television report came as a spokesperson for the PA security forces reported that the Palestinian Authority has arrested 247 suspects during the ongoing raid in Jenin.
Speaking at a press conference in Jenin, Anwar Rajab said Palestinian forces have defused 245 explosive devices in addition to confiscating weapons and ammunition.
Eight of those arrested are suspected of illicitly financing terror groups in the northern West Bank.
Rajab said PA forces also seized funds that were supposed to go toward the families of “martyrs and prisoners” but had been “misappropriated by the lawbreakers,” according to Haaretz.
The Jenin operation began on December 5, with the PA saying it was aimed at suppressing armed groups of “outlaws” who have built up a power base in the city and its adjacent refugee camp.
At least eight Palestinians have been killed in Jenin over the past month, one of them a member of the armed Jenin Brigades, which includes members of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The PA has reported six deaths among its forces.
A member of the Palestinian security forces stands at a roundabout in the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank, December 29, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
Violence in the West Bank has mounted since October 7, 2023, when Hamas assaulted southern Israel, sparking war in Gaza and unrest across the region. Since then, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank, including some carried out by Israeli citizens.
Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank. Much of the violence has been concentrated near Nablus, Jenin and other Palestinian cities in the northern West Bank where PA control has steadily waned over the years.
According to the PA Health Ministry, more than 835 West Bank Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. 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, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.
Additionally, settler violence against Palestinians has soared since the Hamas massacre, with security forces accused of turning a blind eye to the attacks.
Agencies contributed to this report.
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