Israeli security forces destroy the booby-trapped UNRWA kindergarten
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Israeli security forces on Thursday completed a 40-hour counterterrorism operation in the Noor Al-Sham refugee camp near Tulkarm arresting 11 terror suspects out of hundreds investigated.
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During the operation, the forces scanned hundreds of buildings and detained numerous suspects for interrogation. Weapons were confiscated, military equipment was seized, and hundreds of explosive charges were destroyed.
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Israeli security forces at the Noor Al-Sham refugee camp near Tulkarm
(Photo: AP/Majdi Mohammed)
During the searches, the forces located a multi-story building housing a booby-trapped UNRWA kindergarten on the ground floor. An operational system connected to explosive charges surrounding the building and access roads was found. The forces destroyed the kindergarten, a vehicle parked outside and the identified explosives in the area.In addition, the forces located and destroyed two bomb-making laboratories in the camp.
At the start of the operation, the IDF's UAV unit 636 targeted and struck terrorists who hurled explosive devices at the forces. The soldiers fired back at the terrorists, causing injuries. Two IDF reserve soldiers suffered light to moderate injuries from shrapnel during the exchanges of fire. They were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, and their families were notified.
Amid concerns about escalating tensions in the West Bank, with four terror attacks since last weekend, security officials said that approximately 2,600 arrests were made in the West Bank since the beginning of the war. Among them are round 1,300 Hamas activists.
Many of those detained in the past two months were senior members of Hamas who had been wanted by authorities. Some were suspected of carrying out terror attacks against the IDF.
"The operations are designed to suppress the activities of terror cells in the West Bank, which in recent months have begun operating in coordination with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and abroad, as well as with the Islamic Jihad and with the assistance of Iranian elements, to execute terror attacks," a senior security official told Ynet.