IDF warns of growing Judea and Samaria threat, presence of Iranian weapons amid major counterterror operations

According to a survey released earlier this year by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, 70 percent of all respondents—and 81 percent of Jewish respondents—expressed fear of an Oct. 7-style attack coming from Judea and Samaria.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is sounding the alarm over a growing terrorist threat from Judea and Samaria, warning that Iranian-backed arms smuggling could spark an Oct. 7-style attack.

Concerns over the presence of significant Iranian-supplied firepower in the hands of Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria have prompted Israeli intelligence and security forces to intensify operations across the territory.

According to a new report from Israel’s Channel 14, a senior IDF official warned that Judea and Samaria present a growing threat to Israeli communities, with the potential to spark an attack similar to the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“We have to start from the clear fact that weapons in Judea and Samaria [Israel’s preferred name for the West Bank] could upset the current stalemate,” the IDF official told Channel 14.

However, while the military has prioritized preparing for large-scale scenarios, such as an Oct. 7-style attack, the senior IDF official also warned that more attention needs to be paid to “smaller” threats—like a situation in which a small group of terrorists infiltrates a settlement home and kills an entire family—an event he described as “highly probable.”

“We shouldn’t see this scenario only as an attack on dozens of communities. A single deadly strike is enough—we must also prepare for lethal, localized attacks,” the IDF official said. “Our responsibility is to protect both individuals and the broader community.”

He warned that terrorists in Judea and Samaria are believed to possess arms capable of breaking Israeli defenses, including what he called “standard Iranian weapons.”

However, he also noted that security forces are actively working to intercept these arms and dismantle any terrorist cell in the area.

On Tuesday, the IDF uncovered a major terrorist infrastructure in the Tulkarem area in northern Samaria, including three rockets at various stages of assembly, explosive devices, operational equipment, and materials for making bombs.

According to Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based think tank, Israeli officials should be closely monitoring Judea and Samaria as the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas regroups and rearms in the Gaza Strip after two years of war.

“Hamas and its allied factions understand that igniting violence in the territory would divert Israel’s attention during a critical time of rebuilding the group’s infrastructure in Gaza,” Truzman said last month.

“The release of convicted terrorists to the West Bank under the ceasefire agreement may be a factor in the resurgence of organized violence in the territory,” he continued.

At the time, the IDF completed a three-day, multi-branch military exercise in Judea and Samaria called “Lion’s Roar,” designed to enhance operational coordination and joint capabilities in the region, with scenarios shaped by lessons learned from the Oct. 7 atrocities.

More than 180 Israeli Air Force aircraft supported ground troops during training for over 40 scenarios, including attacks on outposts, simultaneous terrorist infiltrations into multiple communities, urban combat, mass-casualty rescue and medical evacuation, multi-casualty response, intelligence integration, and real-time command and control.

“We have many lessons to implement from this exercise and from Oct. 7,” the IDF spokesperson said in a statement at the time.

“The IDF will continue to conduct regular exercises to ensure high readiness, strengthen cooperation among all troops, and maintain the security of residents in the area and of all Israeli civilians,” the statement read.

According to a survey released earlier this year by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, 70 percent of all respondents—and 81 percent of Jewish respondents—expressed fear of an Oct. 7-style attack coming from Judea and Samaria.

In contrast, 53 percent of Arab respondents said they were not worried about such an attack.

“The stipulations of the ceasefire in Gaza, mainly the requirement for Hamas to fully disarm in future phases, should also be applied to the terrorist organization’s operatives in the West Bank,” Aaron Goren, research analyst at FDD, said at the time.

“Otherwise, Israel may face a threat from Hamas, which, unlike in Gaza, where it is relatively contained, is dispersed amongst Israeli communities in the West Bank,” he continued.

Earlier this year, the IDF arrested a Hamas and Fatah terror cell from Ramallah that was planning a bombing attack on a bus in Jerusalem, with investigators saying the group intended to remotely detonate an explosive device smuggled into Israel.

As of February, Israeli security forces had foiled nearly 1,000 terrorist plots over the past year, with senior military officials increasingly worried that the volatile situation in Judea and Samaria could lead to a large-scale attack similar to the Oct. 7 onslaught against Israeli settlements and communities near the security barrier.

In response to these concerns, the IDF has established a special command to address potential threats in Judea and Samaria and launched a nearly unprecedented counterterror operation in the northern part of the territory.