IDF: kills 14 terrorists, seizes dozens of explosives in West Bank operations that could last weeks

The large operation of the IDF in the West Bank, which started on August 28 and has already led to the killing of 14 terrorists, could continue for a number of weeks. 

Although officially the IDF is not evacuating Jenin, large portions of the population have self-evacuated.

The most intense IDF operation in the West Bank in several months, which has also focused on Tulkarem and other areas, has been using hundreds of troops with sustained and unusually broad air support, in contrast to typical raids in the West Bank involving dozens or fewer IDF soldiers operating in any one village at a time.

The last time that The Jerusalem Post was aware of a brigade-size operation in the West Bank was July 2023, when thousands of IDF forces descended on Jenin to rout a growing insurrection in the area.

For months after that operation, Jenin was viewed as being more under control, with the Palestinian Authority security forces also returning to put down terror activity in a stronger way than they had done for some period of years.

But more recently, and despite the IDF having arrested closing in on 5,000 Palestinian terror suspects and killed closing in on 600 terrorists since October 7, terror in Jenin has been heating up again.

Ongoing concerns over weapons and terrorism

When the Post visited Jenin in July 2023, there were almost no Palestinians left nearby, but eventually, they returned once the IDF withdrew.

It was unclear if the same would occur after this operation - though the current operation will last much longer than the short multi-day operation in 2023.

Also, in 2023, pre-operation estimates were that there were 150 specific wanted suspects in Jenin and an estimated total of 300 potential combat fighters out of the population of 49,000.

Of those, around 300 were questioned, with at least dozens referred to the Shin Bet for more serious and extended interrogation. 

A significant but much smaller number of suspects, 25, were arrested so far during the current operation.

Further, in 2023, over 300 Palestinian improvised explosives were seized, and a couple dozen key terror command and control and other targets were destroyed.

A significant but much smaller number of explosives, 30, were destroyed during the current operation. Of note, many of these explosives placed under roads had up to 100 kilograms of explosives, an unusually high amount.

Israel has been concerned about Iran smuggling higher quality weapons and explosives to West Bank terrorists.

The Israel Border Police, the Shin Bet, Duvdevan special forces, and the Kfir Brigade from the IDF initiated the counterterrorism operation in response to the attempted suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv on August 18 and a recent spike in Palestinian terror.