IDF forces on Tuesday night made a highly unusual discovery while they were searching the home of a Palestinian Arab terror suspect in an Arab village in Samaria to the east of Shechem (Nablus).
The Samaria Regional Brigade (known by the Hebrew acronym 'Hatmar'), which is tasked with providing logistical ground support to combat units, was searching for illegal weapons in the home of the suspect, reports Channel 10.
To their surprise, the soldiers stumbled upon a fenced-in courtyard attached to the house, and inside - four deer being held illegally.
Next to the deer, they found several hunting rifles.
Two of the deer were in good physical condition, and they were freed back to nature by a nature reserve inspector from the IDF Civil Administration. The other two deer were classified as being in worse condition, and were transferred to the nature reserve unit for rehabilitation before being released to the wild.
The unusual find came as part of night-time IDF activities in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, during which a total of 31 terror suspects were rounded up on Tuesday night.
At least two of the suspects are suspected of taking part in direct terrorist activities and violent riots targeting Israeli citizens and security forces.
The incident with the deer came as part of a series of raids by the Hatmar brigade in Samaria together with the police, in which they rounded up weapons in the hands of terror activists in villages to the east of Shechem.
A total of six rifles, one handgun, weapon sights and a large number of ammunition magazines were found, and likewise 14 suspects were apprehended.
IDF video from the night raid shows how several ammo magazines were found hidden in a teddy bear.