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IDF Operation Breakwater: Nightly raids stopping hundreds of attacks

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by

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
in


IDF Operation Breakwater: Nightly raids stopping hundreds of attacks

For the past several weeks, the IDF has been carrying out an extensive anti-terrorism operation called Breakwater in Judea and Samaria. More than 2,050 counterterrorism operations have been carried out, during which over 1,500 wanted individuals have been apprehended and hundreds of weapons seized. This operation has been coming under heavy fire from terrorists. 

 

Approximately 90 Palestinians have been killed during the nightly clashes.

The operation comes after deadly attacks killed 19 Israelis between March and May 2022. Chief of General Staff Aviv Kohavi claims the operation has prevented hundreds of attacks.

One example of this took place on Thursday when a Palestinian resident of Nablus was stopped by alert policemen caught in Jaffa. Police searched him and found him to be in possession of an AK47 automatic rifle and two explosive devices.

“Part of the increase in terrorism stems from the helplessness of the Palestinian Authority security forces, leading to a lack of governance in certain areas of Judea and Samaria, and these are fertile grounds for terrorism,” Kohavi said in a press conference last week.

“As always, even in the face of this development, our test is protecting the citizens of Israel, and our mission is to thwart terrorism. We will reach every city, neighborhood, alley, house, or basement for that purpose,” Kohavi said.

Operation Breakwater began with the IDF arrest of Bassem al-Saadi, an Islamic Jihad official in Judea and Samaria, at the beginning of August. The IDF announced that there were concrete warnings of plans by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to attack Israelis near the Gaza border. After four days of restrictions on Israelis near the Gaza border, the IDF launched a preemptive strike against Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets, attacking PIJ targets for three days. During that time, the PIJ fired over 1,100 rockets at Israel. Though no Israelis were killed in the attacks, PIJ rocket shortfalls led to at least 14 civilian deaths inside Gaza.

Operation Breakwater continued inside Israel, focusing on Shechem (Nablus), Jenin, and other hotspots in northern Samaria. IDF forces increasingly ran into informal “battalions” made up of gunmen armed with automatic weapons affiliated with terror organizations like Hamas and PIJ. At the same time, the IDF has been reinforcing soft spots in the anti-terrorist security barrier.

Last month, a shooting attack targeted a civilian bus in the Old City of Jerusalem, wounding eight people, including a pregnant 30-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man.

 

Last Sunday, an explosive device was thrown at an Israeli outpost in the Binyamin region, wounding four soldiers. 

Also, on Sunday, three Palestinian gunmen attacked a bus in the Jordan Valley carrying IDF recruits, injuring seven soldiers, including one seriously. The terrorists doused the bus with a flammable liquid, attempting to light it.

Though attacks in the cities have dropped since the operation began, terrorism continues. The shooting was the 11th attack in the past month.

Other violence is not included in the tally. On Friday, about 150 Arabs from a PA village in Samaria attacked a Jewish-owned farm in the Nahal Shilo region, attacking the Israelis who rushed to defend the farm. IDF troops who arrived at the scene were also attacked. Five Israelis were wounded, and several cars were damaged. This was the second attack in one week targeting the farm. 


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