By JNS Staff
The victim sustained multiple wounds to his hand and upper body “until the knife broke,” the Rescuers Without Borders volunteer emergency service said.
A terrorist stabbed a young Israeli man on Monday morning at the Maoz Yehuda Farm, near the Palestinian town of Osarin in central Samaria.
The victim was seriously wounded, according to the Hatzalah Judea and Samaria (Rescuers Without Borders) volunteer emergency service. He sustained multiple stab wounds to his hand and upper body “until the knife broke,” the service said, adding that the terrorist fled in a vehicle.
The victim was evacuated to Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah.
After IDF soldiers set up roadblocks throughout the area and following a brief manhunt, soldiers killed the terrorist an hour after the attack, the army said.
Soldiers located the terrorist near his vehicle outside the Palestinian town of Qabalan, according to the military. The terrorist tried to stab them, and an IDF commander “responded with fire and eliminated him,” the statement read.
“No terrorist has anywhere to hide. I commend our heroic troops who closed in on and eliminated the terrorist who carried out the attack in Samaria,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
The premier wished the wounded farm owner a full and speedy recovery, adding that Israel will continue “eliminating terrorists, pursuing those who send them and destroying terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the IDF “will pursue and capture the terrorist."
“Our policy in Judea and Samaria is clear: to vigorously pursue Palestinian terrorism, develop and strengthen Jewish settlement, and maintain security stability,” Katz added.
Terrorism in Judea and Samaria is “at its lowest level in decades,” he said, adding that Jerusalem would take “all necessary measures to prevent terrorism from once again raising its head.”
Katz said he and Netanyahu had ordered the IDF to prepare for an “all-out campaign” against the Palestinian Authority and other terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria if Ramallah turns its weapons against Israel.
“We will not allow a return to the reality of a prolonged intifada lasting for years, as occurred in the past,” he continued.
The proposed campaign would include targeted killings of senior figures, the evacuation of residents from areas used for terrorist activity and the IDF remaining in the evacuated territory, “exactly as we did in the security zones in Gaza and Lebanon, and as we also operated in the refugee camps in Jenin and northern Samaria,” he said.
“We will not allow a return to the reality of Oct. 7, and we will ensure the security of Israel’s residents and communities everywhere,” Katz added, referencing the Hamas-led cross-border massacre almost three years ago.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, said, “I stand with IDF soldiers and commanders and pray for the wounded man’s recovery.”
He continued, “I expect the area to be placed under a full cordon and for the IDF to launch a broad military operation, go from house to house and collect the weapons, and dismantle the infrastructure of those who support terrorism. I demand that all roads in the area be closed immediately, that the terrorist be captured, and that everyone who assisted him be held accountable.”
The people of Israel will not surrender to terrorism, and they will continue to build Samaria, Dagan said.
Counterterrorism ops in Samaria
Israeli security personnel apprehended a Hamas cell and dismantled a rocket during a counterterrorism raid in the Aqraba area, southeast of Nablus (Shechem) in central Samaria, the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Sunday.
The operation, which included members of the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit alongside the IDF and Shin Bet, was completed on Sunday morning, according to the joint statement.
The 10-member terrorist cell had been working to advance attacks on Israeli civilians, according to the statement. The rocket was found without a launcher and dismantled on the spot.
On Friday, IDF soldiers completed a counterterrorism operation in the Qabatiya area in northern Samaria, apprehending five terrorists who were part of a cell planning an attack on civilians and security forces, the military said.
Earlier on Friday, the IDF said that more than 10 wanted suspects had been arrested during a 48-hour brigade-level counterterrorism operation in the Nablus area.
During the operation, troops searched hundreds of sites and questioned dozens of suspects.
