State Comptroller report unveils alarming increase in West Bank road attacks

A new report released by state comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Tuesday indicated a 330% increase in shooting attacks along traffic routes in the West Bank between January 2022 and June 2023, compared to previous reports from 2019 to 2021. In addition, a survey of residents of the West Bank revealed that 60% of residents felt insecure on the roads, and 42% had encountered hostile events, mainly involving stone-throwing at vehicles.

The audit identified delays in constructing bypass roads in the West Bank over the years, which could have prevented numerous security incidents. For example, the comptroller mentioned the Huwara bypass road in Samaria, which opened in 2024 after being planned for around 30 years. The Shai District police were also criticized for not measuring incident response times and having a low police-to-area ratio. During incidents, most residents contact the local authority's call center, 1208, rather than the police.

The IDF also considers the 1208 call center more effective and knowledgeable about the area than the Shai District Police. The comptroller added that the cellular communication network only covers 70% of the traffic routes, indicating a significant shortfall.

The report found that the National Fire and Rescue Authority had shortcomings in fire investigations and lacks clear conditions for initiating investigations. It noted that 89% of recent fires were not investigated. Some districts independently decided not to investigate vehicle fires, and the authorized bodies did not evaluate whether an investigation was necessary.

Delayed investigations

Englman discovered that over 30% of investigations in recent years were delayed by several days (two or more) from the fire's outbreak, hindering evidence collection at the scene. As a result, in 8% of the fires investigated between 2020 and 2022, accurate findings could not be determined due to scene disruptions.

Between 2019-2022, the police opened 228 investigation files on suspicion of arson with a nationalist motive, with indictments filed in only 33% of the cases. The comptroller found that three-quarters of these investigation files were closed due to "unknown perpetrator," suggesting a gap in apprehending suspects in arson cases.

The report also found that the Investigations and Intelligence Division, established in 2022, operates partially, with over half of its positions unfilled. Consequently, positions in the investigation branches in the districts are also vacant. The report stated that the authority does not conduct advanced courses for investigators: "They are unable to develop their professional skills and improve investigative processes and outcomes."

The IDF Spokesperson responded to the State Comptroller's report on road protection in the West Bank: "The IDF sees the importance of the audit and learns from its findings. The report's findings refer to data from before the war up to September 2023 and do not reflect the current situation. The deployment of forces and checkpoints in the West Bank area is determined according to the situation assessment and presented to the political echelon.

"In parallel with many actions taken to strengthen the road protection effort, there is a significant offensive effort in the Central Command, which includes thousands of offensive actions in which terrorist cells were arrested and eliminated in villages and cities before carrying out attacks. Since the beginning of the war, hundreds of terrorists have been killed, over 4,200 wanted persons have been arrested, and 57 air strikes have been carried out by various aircraft in West Bank."

Israel Police's response clarified: "Regarding the arrival times of police officers to the scenes, we clarify that response times are measured by the 'New Policing' system, which automatically measures the arrival times to events, recording every call to the center. The system's role is to examine the arrival times of police vehicles to incidents according to their severity (normal, life-threatening, urgent, extreme).

"From the 2023 data regarding the response delay times to registered incidents, it can be seen that there is no significant deviation in the Shai District's response times."