Two terrorists were arrested Tuesday morning outside Tekoa in Gush Etzion, in yet another terror attack thwarted by IDF forces.
One of the terrorists was armed with a knife; an initial investigation indicates that the two had been planning to carry out a stabbing.
One of the terrorists is Muhammed Abu Eisha, a nephew of Amar Abu Eisha - one of the Hamas terrorists responsible for the abduction and murder of yeshiva students Gilad Sha'ar, Naftali Frankel, and Eyal Yifrah in June.
He was caught hours after the IDF raised the terror alert in the Hevron area on concerns that Abu Eisha would attempt to carry out such an attack.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon stated earlier Tuesday at a meeting of Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that attempts to escalate the security situation in Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria come from Hamas in Gaza and Turkey.
"There is major pressure from the outside, especially from Muslim organizations with an emphasis on Hamas, to heat up the situation in the West Bank," said Ya'alon. "We continue to work there to thwart terrorist attacks and terrorist networks, which are mainly operated from the outside, whether from the Gaza Strip and or from Turkey.
"Our enemies do not stop challenging us," he added. "The defense establishment did not go into recess and continues to operate at full power to bring peace and security to the citizens of Israel."