Since the launch of “Operation Iron Wall” on Jan. 21, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 terrorists, arrested approximately 320 wanted individuals and seized around 450 weapons in Judea and Samaria, the military announced.
Security forces have also dismantled hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and pipe bombs, along with dozens of homes used as bomb-making laboratories and weapons storage facilities.
Since Hamas’s massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces have eliminated over 700 terrorists in Judea and Samaria, including 36 senior operatives from various organizations.
On Wednesday night, two people were seriously wounded in a terrorist attack near the Reihan Crossing along the security fence in northern Samaria.
In a separate incident on Wednesday in the Hebron Hills, a terrorist attempted to ram Israeli troops before exiting his vehicle and attacking them with a knife. The assailant was neutralized at the scene.

On Thursday morning, the IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), and Israel Police announced an arrest in the Reihan Crossing shooting. Acting on Shin Bet intelligence, Israeli forces surrounded the suspect’s residence in the town of Barta’a, leading to his surrender without resistance.

As part of its effort to prevent terrorist infrastructure from re-emerging in Judea and Samaria, the IDF is undertaking strategic changes to Palestinian camps, including opening new roads to improve troop mobility. IDF Central Command has also announced plans to dismantle a number of residential structures within the camps.
The military said the decision followed extensive deliberations and is being carried out with the aim of minimizing collateral damage while ensuring operational effectiveness.
The IDF confirmed to JNS on Tuesday that troops have started the process of demolishing some 90 structures in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams terrorist camps in the western part of Samaria.
“The IDF is implementing changes within the camps—including paving routes and roads—to improve mobility for the soldiers and to prevent the reestablishment of terrorist activity in the area,” the army stated, adding that “a row of residences” would soon be knocked down.
The IDF noted that the “refugee camps” in Judea and Samaria have become nests for terrorist activity in recent years, with Palestinian gunmen often embedding themselves within civilian areas.
The military intensified its raids in the area following the Feb. 20 failed bus bombings near Tel Aviv. Three empty buses exploded, and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a coordinated terror attack. At least one of the bombs reportedly bore a note, in Arabic and Hebrew, which stated: “Revenge from the Tulkarem refugee camp.”
Tulkarem—a city that borders the Samaria security barrier— and the nearby Nur Shams camp abut Israel’s densely populated coastal plain east of Netanya and is some eight miles from the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli security officials are aware that a “more intense front” could open in Judea and Samaria amid the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 19.
The same month, it was reported that the Israeli army was putting together a bank of targets to be attacked by the Israeli Air Force in the case of an Oct. 7, 2023-style terrorist attack in Judea and Samaria.
On Feb. 23, Israeli tanks were spotted near the terrorist hotspot of Jenin for the first time since “Operation Defensive Shield,” that lasted from March to May 2002.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures published earlier this year by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
The figures, which were cross-checked against official data from Israel’s security services, included 3,668 instances of rock-throwing, 843 fire bombings, 671 attempts to blind drivers with laser pointers, 526 explosive charges, 364 cases of arson and 179 terrorist shootings.
The NGO also recorded 37 attempted or successful stabbings, 36 bottles of paint being thrown at vehicles and 19 vehicular assaults, including 12 that caused injuries.
The report noted that the Shin Bet last year foiled more than 1,000 major attacks in Judea, Samaria and Yerushalayim.
{Matzav.com Israel}