Israeli security forces arrest Muhammad al-Tubasi, whose brother planned terror attacks that killed 31 Israelis.
By World Israel News Staff
Israeli security forces arrested a relative of two prominent terrorists during an early morning raid in Jenin on Tuesday morning.
Muhammad al-Tubasi, a Palestinian Authority Preventative Security officer who once served time in Israeli prison on terrorism charges, was taken into custody after Israeli army commandos surrounded his home.
In videos circulating on social media, the IDF can be heard calling for al-Tubasi to exit his home and surrender while gunfire is heard in the background.
Al-Tubasi’s brother Sayeed is a high-ranking Islamic Jihad operative currently serving mutliple life sentences in an Israeli prison for planning multiple terror attacks that killed 31 Israelis.
His nephew Iyad is currently on the run and wanted by Israeli authorities on terror charges.
Several hours after al-Tubasi was arrested, Islamic Jihad operatives posted images on social media of a broken side-mirror from an IDF jeep, which they presumably dislodged from the vehicle during the clashes.
Jenin is officially controlled by the Palestinian Authority, but terror groups have largely become the de facto rulers of the city of some 40,000 people.
The city has emerged as a major hotbed of terror, with the perpetrators behind the deadly Elad, Tel Aviv, and Bnei Brak terror attacks coming from Jenin or villages on its outskirts.
Since the onset of the latest terror wave, Israeli security forces have conducted numerous arrest raids in Jenin.
Shami al-Shami, a senior official with the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party, told the Jerusalem Post that Jenin terror groups are concerned that Israel will launch a full-scale offensive on the city, as it did during the second intifada.
“It seems that the Israeli army has a plan to drain out the fighters in the Jenin camp through continuous incursions,” al-Shami said. “We expect the army to lay siege to Jenin and the refugee camp, but only after completely wearing out the resistance fighters.”
He noted that Jenin’s armed terror groups are composed of “national and Islamic factions, and most of them are very young people.”