Security forces operated Thursday morning in Kafr Dan near Jenin to map the homes of two terrorists who killed IDF Major Bar Falah, as well as to arrest wanted suspects in Judea and Samaria.
The mapping was conducted in order to examine the possibility of demolishing the residences of the terrorists. During the operation, the forces arrested two suspects for assisting the terrorists who shot Major Bar Falah, including a relative of one of the terrorists. Two illegal weapons were located.
During the mapping process, armed suspects hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails and fired toward the soldiers. In response, the soldiers fired toward the suspects. Hits were identified.
Initial reports had said that one of the terrorists was killed in the shootout, but an IDF statement did not confirm this.
Separately, the soldiers operated in the in the towns of Jaba' and Rei’, to apprehend five additional terror suspects. Another suspect was apprehended in the town of Surif, for a total of eight suspects who were apprehended overnight. The suspects were transferred to security forces for further processing. No IDF injuries were reported.
On Wednesday, one of the two terrorists responsible for Falah's death was eliminated. He was later discovered to be a member of the Palestinian Authority's security forces.
That terrorist, Ahmad Ayman Ibrahim A'bad, served in the Palestinian Authority's intelligence department. In recent months, A'bad published statements supporting terrorists. Only recently did he complete his military training, and the IDF fears he will be seen as an example to other new recruits in the PA security forces.
Initial IDF investigations show that the IDF forces identified two individuals near the security fence, but were not certain that they were armed and were not given permission to send an armed vehicle to check. The two opened fire, Falah was killed, and the forces eliminated the two terrorists. The IDF is working to examine, among other things, why the pair were observed for two-and-a-half hours and yet still were the first to open fire.