Key terror operative among 22 detained in West Bank: Israel
Tel Aviv: Israeli forces have detained 22 Palestinians including a prominent terror operative from West Bank, officials have said.
The detainees reportedly also include two Palestinian prisoners who were released during the Israel-Hamas truce in November 2023.
According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the detained terror operative identified as Mohammed Tanji was planning a series of attacks in the West Bank area. He was detained from the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank in an overnight raid on Tuesday.
Tanji is identified as a leader and founder of the Balata Battalion, a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the refugee camp.
Tanji was “one of the main operatives in the terror infrastructure in Balata over the past year”, the IDF said.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a non-governmental organization, said in a statement on Tuesday that the arrests were carried out in the cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, and Jericho.
The club identified Aman Nafe and Hanan al-Barghouti from the village of Kobar near Ramallah, both of whom were released in a hostage-for-prisoner swap during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas in November last year, and Mona Abu Hussein from the village of Aboud, among those arrested.
In a separate incident in West Bank, an IDF soldier was “grievously wounded” after being stabbed by a Palestinian teenager. The teenager was identified as Mohammed Shehadeh (17).
The condition of the soldier is critical, the IDF said.
Since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7 last year, Israel has arrested approximately 3,450 wanted people in the West Bank, with about 1,500 of them belonging to Hamas, according to Adraee.
The West Bank has experienced escalating tension and armed confrontations in cities, villages, and refugee camps since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
