IDF warns of surge in Iranian-directed Hamas terror activity in Judea and Samaria

Israel’s security establishment sees sharp rise in Judea and Samaria terror warnings as Iran, Hamas push attacks.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s security establishment has detected a significant increase in planned terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria, with signs pointing to heightened efforts by both Iran and Hamas to promote anti-Israel terrorism, Channel 12 reported.

According to the latest security assessments, Iran, Hamas terrorists abroad, and senior Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip are all involved in efforts to encourage attacks in Judea and Samaria.

Israeli forces have stepped up arrests and weapons seizures in response, though some security officials are concerned that the repeated failure of terrorist groups to produce a major attack could itself increase pressure on operatives to pull off a high-profile attack.

“The motivation to carry out attacks in Judea and Samaria is high, and the lack of success increases the motivation even more,” a senior military official told Channel 12.

The official warned that even a single successful major attack could sharply alter the security situation in the territory.

Israeli forces have consequently maintained intensive nightly operations across Judea and Samaria, including raids, arrests, interrogations and seizures of weapons and explosives.

The IDF said Friday that troops carried out 60 arrests across Judea and Samaria during the preceding week alone.

Those detained included suspects accused of planning attacks in the immediate future, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, weapons dealers, armed suspects and people accused of incitement.

The military also reported thwarting weapons smuggling along Israel’s eastern border and arresting the suspected perpetrator of a stabbing attack near al-Auja in the Jordan Valley.

The latest assessment comes as Israel has increasingly shifted toward an offensive counterterrorism strategy in Judea and Samaria, seeking to disrupt cells and attack organizers before planned operations can be carried out.

On Friday, an Israeli airstrike in Jenin killed Hamas operative Qais Bitwani and two other men traveling with him.

The IDF and Shin Bet said Bitwani had been involved in directing, financing and carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers and had maintained contacts with Hamas in Gaza and operatives abroad.

Weapons were found in the vehicle, according to Israeli authorities.

Bitwani had previously been a senior figure in the Jenin terrorist network and was linked by Israeli security officials to several attacks, including a July 2024 bombing near the Gilboa crossing that wounded two Defense Ministry employees.

The operation followed an extended intelligence operation that included the arrests and interrogations of dozens of suspected associates.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strike demonstrated Israel’s policy of moving against emerging threats rather than waiting for attacks to occur.

“We do not wait for terrorism,” Katz said. “We pursue it, conquer its strongholds, and thwart its people.”

Katz said the policy had contributed to an approximately 80% decline in terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria.

Despite that reduction, senior officers have recently warned that the relative calm remains fragile.

Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth told senior government officials last week that Palestinian terrorism had fallen substantially over the previous two years, but warned that worsening tensions in Judea and Samaria could rapidly reverse that trend.

“There is one match that could ignite everything in an instant – nationalist crime,” Bluth said, referring to violence by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians.

Israeli security officials have long accused Tehran of attempting to establish terrorist networks in Judea and Samaria, including through weapons smuggling, financing and the recruitment of Palestinian operatives. Hamas has similarly sought to direct attacks from Gaza and from command structures operating outside Israel.

HamasIDFIranJudea and SamariaPalestinian terror