As tensions among the Palestinians and Arab Israelis continue to run high, Israel's security forces continued to arrest suspected terrorist operatives in an attempt to curb the recent wave of terrorism that has killed 14 Israelis. On Thursday morning, Palestinian authorities reported that two young Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops in Jenin
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According to a report on the Palestinian Quds news outlet, one of the men killed was Shas Kammaji, the brother of one of the prisoners who escaped Gilboa Prison in September 2021. The second man was named as Mustafa Abu al-Rab.
On Wednesday, security forces thwarted a terrorist attack planned for Passover Eve.
A joint operation by Border Police special forces and the IDF in the villages of Silwad and Kobar, near Ramallah, led to the arrest of six suspects. The defense establishment received a tip that the suspects were planning an attack, most likely in Jerusalem.
Several dozen Palestinians tried to prevent the arrests, clashing with the forces and throwing rocks at them.
In Kobar, one suspected was arrested in his own home. In Silwad, the forces – along with Shin Bet security agency personnel – surrounded a home where three additional suspects were holed up. After the suspects refused to leave, the forces opened fire on the home until all three emerged, unharmed. These four suspects were detained for questioning by the Shin Bet.
The suspects include Maad Hamed, 33, a Hamas operative from Silwad. Hamed was a member of a cell that killed Malachi Rosenfeld and wounded three other Israelis in a shooting on a passing car on June 29, 2015. Since that attack, Hamad had been in Palestinian prison.
Earlier Wednesday, the Shin Bet obtained intelligence that he had escaped prison. Suspecting that he intended to promote terrorist attacks in the immediate future, the Shin Bet launched an operation to bring him to Israel and put him in prison. Hours later, the suspect was arrested in Kobar.
Upon learning that Hamed had been arrested, Rosenfeld's father, Eliezer, said, "Our beloved Malachi cannot be returned to us, but the person who took his life should rot in prison for the rest of his days."
Rosenfeld said the IDF had contacted him to inform him of Hamed's arrest, and added that for the family, the event represented "closure and the avoidance of more murders."
Also on Wednesday, an Israeli man was rescued from a Palestinian lynch mob in Bethlehem. The man, a resident of Betar Illit, drove into the nearby village of Hussan, where he was surrounded and beaten.
The man managed to escape, but the mob set fire to his car. Hours earlier, security forces shot and killed 14-year-old local who had been throwing Molotov cocktails at IDF troops.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian news outlet Wafa reported Wednesday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the governor of Jenin, Ikram Rajoub, to inquire about the welfare of the residents of the area as the IDF continues its arrest operations. According to the report, Abbas emphasized that he condemned "the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people," and gave instructions to Rajoub to supply urgent aid to residents of the Jenin refugee camp.
In related news, deputy leader of Hamas abroad Salah al-Arouri endorsed a message from the terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip and called for "a general enlistment of the Palestinian public to stand up to the 'occupation's' incursions into cities and villages in the occupied homeland."
Arouri also called on "the Palestinian people, especially in Ramallah and the capital [Jerusalem] to support the people of Silwad and the other areas of conflict, and also unit against the Zionist aggression through any means possible."
Earlier Wednesday, the Gaza terrorist factions met and issued a general call to their supporters to take part in Friday prayers at the Temple Mount and declared a situation of "general enlistment" for Al-Aqsa Mosque.
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