Israeli troops on Sunday killed three Palestinian terrorists in the northern West Bank who were on the verge o f carrying out an attack in Israel.
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The IDF said it shot the three men near the Jenin refugee camp – the site of a large-scale military operation last month. It said the three men had just exited the camp and were on their way to carry out an attack and that an M-16 rifle was recovered from their vehicle.
The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups condemned the killings, though it was not immediately known if the three men belonged to either organization. Israel identified the leader of the group as Naif Abu Tsuik, 26, saying he was a "leading military operative" from the camp.
The Jenin camp is known as a terrorist stronghold. Last month, the army carried out a two-day offensive in the camp, killing many terrorists and causing widespread damage to the densely populated area. An Israeli soldier also was killed in the fighting.
Video: The IDF's successful elimination of a terrorist cell near Jenin / Arab social media
But the offensive appears to have done little to halt a broader wave of violence that began in early 2022.
On Saturday, a Palestinian terrorist shot and killed an Israeli security guard in central Tel Aviv before another guard shot and killed the attacker. Two Israeli settlers have been arrested in the Friday night shooting of 19-year-old Qusai Matan in the village of Burqa.
The army said the Israeli settlers arrived in the area to herd sheep, leading to clashes between Israelis and Palestinians from the village. Israeli media reported that one of the suspects in the incident, Elisha Yered, was a former aide to an ultranationalist lawmaker in the Otzma Yehudit, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's key coalition partners.
Israel Hayom, pundit Yoav Limor wrote that there are "armed Jewish militias that are operating like terrorist groups in Samaria." He added, "If the state of Israel doesn't come to its senses and stop them immediately, the damage they will do is far more dangerous than any terror attack of the enemy."
Leading politicians in the government lashed out at the criticism. "The Israeli media (again) got confused: A Jew who defends himself and others against the murder of Palestinians, is not a murder suspect, but a hero who will receive my full support," tweeted National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a settler leader who leads Otzma Yehuda.
"We see there is confusion as to who is an enemy," said Limor Son Har-Melech, a member of Ben-Gvir's party, whose former spokesman was one of the arrested suspects. Tally Gotliv, a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, said a "leftist agenda" and "deep state" have infiltrated the Shin Bet.
Early on Sunday, the Israeli military said troops measured the home of the Palestinian attacker in Saturday's Tel Aviv killing to prepare for its demolition in the village of Rumana, near Jenin.
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