The IDF is operating in PLO controlled Kalkilya and Tulkarem this morning, in search of wanted terrorists. Over the weekend troops entered Bethlehem, for the first time since the Church of the Nativity standoff ended on May 10, and apprehended an Arab suspected of terrorist activity. The Bethlehem operation comes in response to last week’s suicide bombing in Rishon LeTzion that left 2 Israelis dead and wounded 40. The 16-year-old Palestinian who carried out the attack had been dispatched from the Bethlehem area.
On Friday, soldiers entered Tulkarem in search of terrorists and were fired upon by Arab gunmen. A gun battle erupted claiming the life of 23-year-old IDF Sgt.-Maj. Oren Tzelnik, from Bat Yam. Two other soldiers were wounded in the firefight. Tzelnik will be laid to rest this afternoon in the Holon cemetery.
In other war news, security officials patrolling in the northern Shomron yesterday morning apprehended a 16-year-old Arab on his way to carry out a suicide attack. The teen had been traveling towards his target in a Palestinian taxi when soldiers who had set up a temporary checkpoint ordered the occupants of the car out of the vehicle. Troops asked the Arabs to lift up their shirts and an explosives belt, which was attached to the youth’s body, was reveled. The teen was taken into custody. Sappers were called in and managed to defuse the device without incident.
Also over the weekend, forces discovered and dismantled an armed mortar launcher near the Jewish community of Gush Katif in Israel’s Southern Mediterranean Coastal Region. A stopwatch attached to the device was to serve as the launch mechanism.
On Friday, soldiers entered Tulkarem in search of terrorists and were fired upon by Arab gunmen. A gun battle erupted claiming the life of 23-year-old IDF Sgt.-Maj. Oren Tzelnik, from Bat Yam. Two other soldiers were wounded in the firefight. Tzelnik will be laid to rest this afternoon in the Holon cemetery.
In other war news, security officials patrolling in the northern Shomron yesterday morning apprehended a 16-year-old Arab on his way to carry out a suicide attack. The teen had been traveling towards his target in a Palestinian taxi when soldiers who had set up a temporary checkpoint ordered the occupants of the car out of the vehicle. Troops asked the Arabs to lift up their shirts and an explosives belt, which was attached to the youth’s body, was reveled. The teen was taken into custody. Sappers were called in and managed to defuse the device without incident.
Also over the weekend, forces discovered and dismantled an armed mortar launcher near the Jewish community of Gush Katif in Israel’s Southern Mediterranean Coastal Region. A stopwatch attached to the device was to serve as the launch mechanism.