The IDF Press Service reported today that 150 terrorists have been eliminated in Judea and Samaria since the beginning of the war, and 1,500 wanted persons have been arrested, 900 of whom are Hamas terrorists.
I believe it would be appropriate to add a few comments to this report:
1. Currently there are dozens of IDF battalions deployed in Judea and Samaria, reinforced by Border Police forces, and special units, including “mistaarvim” (Arabs in disguise) counter-terrorism units.
This is a very serious force, equivalent in capability to several divisions.
2. In the current fighting, in addition to the heavy use of surveillance and attack drones, there has been for the first time the use of combat jets with especially heavy weaponry in the territory of Judea and Samaria.
3. In fact, since the beginning of the war, several battalion and even divisional operations have been carried out with the aim of stopping at the root all attempts by Hamas to initiate unrest in the territory of Judea and Samaria.
The IDF’s intensive and large-scale activities lead to the arrest of terror bosses, field commanders and regular terrorists, as well as the seizure of military equipment, the destruction of workshops, and the confiscation of money and vehicles.
During these operations, the intelligence services also obtain a great deal of valuable intelligence information (documents, computer contents and the results of interrogations of arrested persons), which in turn enables further arrests to be made.
At the present time, by the grace of G-d, this decisive and effective preventive activity of our army and intelligence services is keeping Judea and Samaria out of the fighting — the Arab population there is largely uninvolved in the unrest. This is, of course, primarily due to the significant damage caused by the liquidations and arrests carried out by our forces against the entire operational staff and infrastructure of terrorist groups.
Let us also note the following: on the day of Hamas’s horrific attack on Jewish villages and towns around Gaza, when the country’s entire military infrastructure was paralyzed and unable to provide the residents of the country with the necessary security measures for many hours, there were virtually no unrest or incidents in the territory of Judea and Samaria, which from our point of view is an obvious miracle.
Moreover, it is also worth noting that over the past few years, many experts, who have not been constrained by a dominant (or perhaps still prevailing) “concept” in the highest military leadership of the country, according to which Hamas is “pacified” and “does not seek war”, have repeatedly warned that the enemy was preparing a simultaneous attack similar to the one launched from Gaza, also in Judea and Samaria, in mixed Jewish-Arab towns and on the northern border. However, eventually, both in Judea and Samaria, in the mixed cities and on the northern border, during the critical hours of chaos and disorganization of our army, everything was more or less quiet, which from our point of view is certainly an obvious miracle and a manifestation of G-d’s great mercy.
This is an incredible and amazing miracle, and therefore: “Give thanks to the Almighty for He is good, for His kindness is Everlasting”!