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Israeli forces imposed a lockdown on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, after a resident killed two people in Israel.
“The IDF (Israeli army) is operating forcefully against terror hubs in the village of Qabatiya, accompanied by a lockdown and a complete cordon around the locality,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Saturday, December 27.
“We will continue to pursue an uncompromising offensive policy against Palestinian terror,” he added.
In the attack on Friday, a 34-year-old Palestinian man killed two people in northern Israel.
According to Israeli police, the assailant, who had been working illegally in Israel, had used his employer’s vehicle to ram into a 68-year-old man and then stabbed an 18-year-old girl to death.
A few hours later, the Israeli army and the Shin Bet domestic security agency began operating in Qabatiya. They searched the perpetrator’s house and questioned suspects, the army said.
On Saturday, the army’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir ordered the reinforcement of troops deployed in the area.
“This period is characterised by lone attackers and individuals staying illegally in Israel. Enforcement against those who transport and employ them must be strengthened and improved,” he said, according to an army statement.
“At the same time, we must continue to enhance our capabilities to identify and thwart these attackers.”
Bilal Hunaisha, a resident of Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank, said the town is being subjected to collective punishment by the Israeli occupation.
“As you can see, they blocked the way to my house, and I am no longer able to move around,” he told AFP, pointing to a pile of rubble obstructing the road.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that, besides blocking entrances and conducting interrogations and home searches, Israeli forces also took over a school and used it as a detention and interrogation centre.
Since the war in Gaza began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, at least 38 people, including two foreign nationals, have been killed in Israel in attacks carried out by Palestinians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The violence has also intensified in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, including militants and dozens of civilians, AFP reported.
Israeli authorities say at least 44 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the West Bank over the same period.
