The IDF on Wednesday identified 30-year-old Maj. Bar Falah as the Israeli officer who was killed in an overnight shootout with Palestinian gunmen adjacent to the West Bank security barrier.
Falah, the deputy commander of the elite Nahal reconnaissance unit, fired back at the terrorists before being hit and collapsing due to his fatal wounds.
According to a preliminary probe into the incident, two suspects were spotted 15 meters away from the security barrier near the Palestinian village of Jalameh north of Jenin about two and a half hours before the shootout.
An IDF force that was dispatched to the scene flanked the suspects, at which point the terrorists opened fire at troops at close range. The soldiers returned fire and killed the assailants.
Falah's subordinate continued to lunge and fire at the terrorists even after seeing his commander hit by gunfire next to him "as part of the engagement with the enemy and completing the mission to remove the threat," according to investigators.
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi eulogized the slain officer early Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, last night we lost an IDF officer in an operational activity against Palestinian terrorists. I extend my condolences to the officer's family and partner, I support and hug them," he said.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, "Major Bar Falah, a warrior and a commander, the deputy commander of Nahal, was killed tonight in operational activity and there are no words to console the family, his partner and friends for the loss of their dearest.
Bar fought terrorism with every fiber of his being and led his soldiers in his last hour. The operational activity in which he was killed thwarted a major attack and saved human lives. We are all hurting his demise with you."
The IDF and Shin Bet are investigating whether the two belonged to the same terror cell that opened fire at a Defense Ministry engineering vehicle at the security barrier the previous day.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades — an armed Palestinian group affiliated with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction — claimed responsibility for the overnight attack and released a video of gunmen opening fire at the Jewish settlement of Har Brakha near Nablus.
The gunmen were identified by the Palestinians as Ahmed Abed and Abdul Rahman Abed from the village of Kafr Dan near Jenin. The former was also reportedly a member of the PA's security apparatus.
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Abdul Rahman Abed and Ahmed Abed, who were killed in a firefight with IDF troops on September 14, 2022
(Photo: via Twitter)
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem that the terror group's branch in Jenin
"[The Jenin branch] continues its struggle and resistance against the Zionist occupier and draws the parameters of a new level called the protracted revolution until achieving the goals of our people," he said.
"As of today, the heroes of Jenin ignore all the empty threats of the occupation against the cities of the West Bank, and do not pay attention to the intimidation attempts using airplanes or incursions.
The martyrs of Jenin this morning are fuel to another revolution and escalation of the struggle against the occupation and this pure blood is the tax of triumph and liberation. This revolution will continue to escalate across all West Bank cities in defense of the al-Aqsa Mosque, in response to the crimes of the occupation, and on the path to liberation of the land, the people and the martyrs."
Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials on Tuesday convened a special discussion on a record number of Palestinian terror alerts in Israel ahead of the Jewish High Holy Days.
Defense officials presented Prime Minister Lapid with some 70 concrete warnings about imminent attacks during the holiday season.
A senior defense official added that security forces will continue making preemptive arrests of terror suspects throughout the holiday season as opposed to previous years in which Israel tried to keep tensions on the ground in check.
Dozens of suspects have been arrested in recent weeks as the IDF continued its crackdown on Palestinian terrorist activity across the West Bank.
According to security officials, more than 240 significant terror attacks have been thwarted since the beginning of the year, including shootings, suicide bombings, bomb attacks and kidnappings.
Elisha Ben Kimon and Einav Halabi contributed to this story.