A spike of more than 100 percent in the number of terrorist acts occurred in just a year. IDF figures show that while in the first half of 2022 there were 53 terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria, this year there were 167 incidents, of which 59 were shooting at civilians.
The data were revealed at a hearing in the Judea and Samaria subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. At the request of the committee chairman, MK Moshe Solomon (Religious Zionism), the IDF provided the data, which clearly show the precarious security situation in Judea and Samaria over the past year.
Clashes in Jenin, photo: Ja'far Shtayyeh
A total of 167 shooting incidents took place in the first half of the year, 59 of them against civilians and the rest against IDF forces. There has also been an enormous increase in popular terrorism, with a total of 85 incidents, of which 1628 were stone-throwing and 1369 were Molotov cocktails.
IDF forces operating in the Jenin refugee camp. Archive, photo: IDF Spokesperson
"There is a significant increase in terrorism," said Major Elitzur Trabelsi, an officer in the Judea and Samaria Division, who presented the data. By comparison, there were only 2022 vintage events in the first quarter of 22, compared to 48 in the first quarter of 2023. "We operate quite a bit in the field. There is a lot of overt and covert activity using all means and ambushes, alongside permanent and changing checkpoints, patrols and more.
Also participating in the discussion was Colonel Israel Shomer, Head of the Operations Department of the Operations Directorate, who noted that it should be taken into account that the first quarter of 2023 occurred prior to Operation Breakwater, which is characterized by a greater intensity of forces on the ground. In response, MK Zeev Elkin told him, "You would expect that as a result of an operation we will reach lower numbers. If we're in the situation we were in a year ago, and the numbers are rising, maybe something needs to be done differently."
Israeli security forces jeep mounts IED planted by terrorists in Jenin Arab networks
"We are in complicated times," Schumer said. "The IDF is inside Judea and Samaria with most of its significant order. The chief of staff and the defense minister ordered reinforcements of the region on a significant scale in order to defend, impose order, and restore normal life as quickly as possible. We certainly don't see the current situation as ideal."
Alongside the terrorist attacks, the number of nationalist crime incidents by Israelis in the West Bank was also exposed, which also reveals a significant increase. In the first half of 2023, there were 588 nationalist crime incidents, compared to 360 in the same period last year. Most of the incidents were incidents defined by the IDF as popular terrorism, along with 157 incidents of friction and 51 incidents of attacks on security forces.
Trabelsi said at the hearing that Brigade Commander Benjamin Colonel Eliav Elbaz was verbally attacked by friends of Harel Massoud, who was murdered in the Ali attack, and called him, among other things, a murderer. "This is not a simple event. This is a small handful that needs to be dealt with, but one that affects everything that happens in the sector."
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