Israeli forces capture three Hamas terrorists in Jenin raid

The local branch of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said its members opened fire at the troops.

By JNS

Israel Defense Forces soldiers clashed on Monday with Palestinian terrorists in the Jenin refugee camp, in the first military operation there since a major campaign earlier this summer.

The IDF said troops arrested three Hamas terrorists: Abdullah Hassan Mohammed Sobeh, Vered Ashrin and Musab Jaitsa.

All of them were involved in “extensive” terrorist activity and perpetrated or directed IED and shooting attacks, according to the army.

Sobeh was also behind many of the attempts in recent months to launch rockets from Jenin toward Israeli communities.

The local branch of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group said its members opened fire at Israeli forces as they arrived at the outskirts of the camp.

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said four people were injured in the clashes.

In July, the military carried out a major counterterrorism operation in Jenin, including in the refugee camp.

More than 1,000 IDF troops participated in the campaign, which is believed to have been the largest deployment in Judea and Samaria in two decades.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces overnight Sunday detained 16 Palestinian suspects across Judea and Samaria and in the Jordan Valley.

During a raid in Tammun, northeast of Nablus, Palestinians threw Molotov cocktails and explosive devices at troops, who responded with riot-control measures.

A military vehicle was damaged but no soldiers were injured.

Israeli soldiers confiscated two IEDS, M-16 rifle parts and other military equipment during the operations.

The operations follow a series of deadly terrorist attacks including the killing of an off-duty IDF soldier last Thursday when a Palestinian drove his truck into a crowd at the Maccabim Crossing along Route 443, close to the central city of Modi’in. Six other persons were injured in the ramming.

Earlier in August, 40-year-old Batsheva Nigri, a mother of three from Beit Hagai, was killed and a 39-year-old man was seriously wounded in a terrorist shooting near Hebron in Judea.

Two days earlier, a Palestinian terrorist shot and killed Shay Silas Nigrekar, 60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir in Huwara, located just outside Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria.