Israeli security forces came under attack by Palestinian rioters during an operation to arrest a high-ranking terrorist in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Monday night, The Jerusalem Post reported today.
IDF soldiers, along with a counter-terrorism unit from the Border Police and the Shin Bet intelligence service, identified an “armed and highly dangerous” suspect hiding in a local building. In a statement, the IDF said the suspect ignored repeated calls to surrender to authorities and emerge from the structure, at which point it was demolished.
The Post reported that the operation sparked a “violent disturbance,” which saw hundreds of Palestinians hurling “rocks and firebombs” at security forces, who retaliated with tear gas. One Israeli officer was shot and moderately injured, and a Palestinian security official said five Palestinians were hospitalized after inhaling tear gas, according to The Times of Israel. An investigation is underway to determine whether the Israeli officer was hit by Palestinian gunmen or friendly fire.
While the military did not name the suspect involved in the operation, the Times reported that Palestinian outlets claimed the structure targeted by Israeli forces belonged to Islamic Jihad terrorist Bassem Saadi, with conflicting reports about the demolition of a second house belonging to the Hamas-affiliated al-Hija family.
The homes encircled by the Israeli forces were reportedly those of Bassem Saadi, a formerly imprisoned senior Islamic Jihad terrorist, and the Hamas-affiliated Majdi and Alaa Abu al-Hija. The Hija brothers are the sons of imprisoned Hamas leader Jamal Abu al-Hija; their older brother Hamza Abu al-Hija was killed in a shootout with the IDF last year.
According to reports in Palestinian media, Saadi’s home was demolished by troops during the operation. Others reports said that the al-Hija family home had been destroyed as well.
According to The Jerusalem Post, the Shin Bet uncovered around 150 Hamas cells in the West Bank over the past year.
This June, one Israeli was killed and three more wounded in a West Bank attack that the Shin Bet claimed was orchestrated by a “Hamas military network.” Earlier that month, another Israeli man was killed and a second injured after being shot at point-blank range by Palestinians in the West Bank.
Bassam Saadi told The Tower in 2013 that Islamic Jihad maintains “warm and positive” ties with Iran. This past Sunday, the Jerusalem Post wrote that the Iran-backed Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah was reportedly working to enlist West Bank Palestinians, including youths, “to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank and inside Israel.”
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