Soldiers wounded a Palestinian terrorist who tried to ram them with his car at a junction near Hebron on Wednesday.
Three soldiers from Battalion 603 were performing security checks of vehicles at the checkpoint, which was set up on a temporary basis following last week’s terrorist attack in the Hebron area.
In addition to increasing the IDF’s presence in the Hebron area to maintain greater control and project that Israel will do what is needed to maintain order, the military wants to tactically set up temporary unexpected checkpoints to surprise potential terrorists who are familiar with the permanent posts.
When the terrorist veered his vehicle toward two of the soldiers, one of them fired 10 shots and wounded him. The other soldier was struck in the hand by the car and was lightly wounded. He was given medical care at the scene and transferred to a hospital.
Statements issued by local Jewish officials supported the IDF’s thwarting of a more serious terrorist attack, while criticizing that the IDF and the government have not completely closed the Hebron area to Palestinians on an extended basis.
Despite calls by settlers for extended closures for Palestinians in the Hebron area, the IDF has maintained the position that its nightly raids against terrorists, coupled with continuing to preserve the movement of the mostly peaceful civilian population, will actually reduce the broader motivation for terrorism among Palestinians who might be “on the fence” regarding Israel.
Last week, Batsheva Nigri, 42, was shot and killed while riding in a car on Highway 60 in the West Bank near Beit Hagai junction.
Gazans share video of breaking through secondary security fence
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, groups in the Gaza Strip circulated a dated video on social media of some unidentified Palestinians using pliers and other means to cut through a secondary border fence between them and Israel.
During the video, in which macho-sounding music blares, the Gazans portray themselves as victorious, having cut through the fence in multiple spots and entered Israeli territory without being caught.
What the video did not show, however, is that during the incident, which occurred around two months ago, the Palestinians in question did not approach the more well-defended fence about 100 to 200 meters in front.
In other words, the fence that was breached by the Gazans in the video was an unmanned fence bordering a no-man’s land security zone leading to the larger fence, which is heavily manned by soldiers.
The video also did not show that at the same time the Palestinians were cutting the fence at a safe distance from the troops, other Palestinians were engaging soldiers at a closer range and were being dispersed by tear gas and tanks.
Therefore, the Palestinians featured in the video were actually farther away from the “action” than many of the other Palestinians involved.
According to the IDF, the goal of those who filmed the video was not to perpetrate terrorism, but to promote themselves internally within Gaza as having accomplished something against Israel at a time when the terrorist groups have recently achieved very little.
The Palestinians featured in the video fled once the soldiers approached, the IDF said.
In May, Israel launched a targeted operation that killed several top Islamic Jihad leaders, and the terrorist group achieved almost no substantive revenge goals in response.