West Bank tensions continue: Soldier killed in terror attack; Netanyahu vows to boost Jordanian border security

IDF resumes counter-terror raids as part of Operation ‘Summer Camps’

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Amid active fighting in the Gaza Strip and on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, tensions on Israel's less prominent internal front against terror in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) have been close to bubbling over for the past several months.

To combat increased terrorism in the region, two weeks ago, the IDF launched a large-scale counter-terror raid. In addition, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his plans to boost security along the border with Jordan, where most weapons being used by terrorists in Judea and Samaria are being smuggled from.

Another IDF soldier was killed in a terror attack on Wednesday when a Palestinian truck driver rammed into the guard post where he was standing, outside of an Israeli settlement near the city of Ramallah.

The soldier was critically wounded and evacuated to a hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds. He was identified as Staff Sgt. Geri Gideon Hanghal (24), from Nof Hagalil (formerly Upper Nazareth) in the Galilee region.

The IDF said that soldiers and an armed citizen shot and neutralized the terrorist, who survived and was taken to an Israeli hospital. Israeli troops later mapped and sealed his house in preparation for its demolition, a punitive measure intended to deter terrorism. Amid the recent surge in attacks involving explosive devices and booby-trapped vehicles, the IDF initially feared the truck might have been rigged with explosives but later ruled out that possibility.

Since Oct. 7, 33 Israelis have been killed in terror attacks in Israel, including in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). In addition, six soldiers and police officers were killed while fighting terrorists in the area.

Following a recent terror attack at the Allenby border crossing with Jordan, in which three Israeli workers were killed, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited troops stationed at the border and inspected several weapons that were seized during recent operations.

“In this multi-front fight, we also know that we must secure our eastern border with Jordan. This is a border of peace. We are cooperating with the Kingdom of Jordan to make sure it stays that way. But the challenges have grown lately,” Netanyahu noted.

“There is an effort to smuggle terrorists and war material across the Jordan into Judea and Samaria and into Israel's cities. We are working here in cooperation with all elements in order to stop this… We will work here to construct a stronger barrier against smuggling attempts. We are doing so in coordination with our neighbors. It is important to us to ensure that this border remain a border of peace – peace and security,” the prime minister wrote on 𝕏.

Two weeks ago, the IDF began a large-scale counter-terror operation on a scale not seen in the West Bank since 2022’s Operation Defensive Shield, during which the IDF gained control over several towns in the area.

After 10 days, the IDF largely withdrew from the raids’ initial main targets in Jenin and Tulkarem, after eliminating 64 terrorists and seizing dozens of weapons.

However, the raids continued in other locations. On Wednesday, the IDF announced that Israeli forces had arrested a suspect involved in a premature explosion of a car bomb near Hebron on Aug. 13.

According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli soldiers who arrested the suspect infiltrated the town of Halhoul dressed as Arab women, before capturing the suspect in a local hospital, where he was being treated for wounds from the explosion.

Israeli military forces also returned to the town of Tulkarem, eliminated an armed terrorist and wounded several others. The IDF located and destroyed an explosives laboratory, a lathe used to produce weapons and an observation post.

In the area of Tubas, an Israeli airstrike eliminated a squad of five terrorists armed with explosives that posed a threat to Israeli forces. Weapons were confiscated and the soldiers destroyed the explosives, including a car bomb.

Three more terror suspects were eliminated on Tuesday evening in Tulkarem in an Israeli airstrike.

Overall, 23 terrorists were arrested during raids in Judea and Samaria on Wednesday.