8 senior terrorists successfully escaped IDF raid in July – report

Eight out of the 10 terror leaders targeted by the IDF’s Yamam special forces unit in the Shechem (Nablus) raid were able to evade arrest and have not been detained.

By World Israel News Staff

Senior terror officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad successfully escaped from an IDF raid of the home in which they were meeting in late July, although two terrorists were killed in the operation, according to a Channel 12 News report.

Eight out of the ten terror leaders targeted by the IDF’s Yamam special forces unit in the Shechem (Nablus) raid managed to evade arrest and have not been detained.

The terrorists spotted the Israeli military officials via a security camera which broadcast the area outside the structure, and most of them immediately fled the scene.

The two who stayed behind to fight with the approaching troops, identified on Palestinian social media as Aboud Sobah and Muhammad al-Azizi, were killed in a massive firefight with IDF forces.

According to the Channel 12 report, Israeli security forces had aimed to capture Mousad Shtayyeh, a Hamas operative who heads the terror group’s armed Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades division.

An IDF spokesman said that “many weapons, firearms and explosive devices” were found at the home where the terror meeting took place.

The IDF summary of the raid indicated that a number of terrorists had been “eliminated” but did not mention any arrests – a detail that raised questions among some Israeli analysts and news outlets.

At the time of the operation, Hebrew-language media reported that Ibrahim Nabulsi, the sole member of a four-man terror squad to survive an Israeli assassination of the cell some five months ago, was the raid’s primary target.

Nabulsi reportedly barricaded himself in his home and refused to surrender to troops.

Nabulsi and others in his home reportedly shot at troops, before eventually being killed in a firefight. Security forces were said to have fired a shoulder-held missile at the home in order to force entry to his residence.