Israel remains on its highest level of alert, especially now that Ramadan has commence and after three deadly terrorist attacks in the past fortnight. On Sunday morning, the head of Israel Police's operations unit, Chief Superintendent Elad Klein, told Kan Reshet Bet that imposing a closure on Judea and Samaria would make the police's job easier, but imposing such a closure was a decision that had to be made by the government.
"Our job as police officers is to prepare for a situation in which there is no closure and to provide solutions." He added that thousands of police officers have been deployed to various parts of the country in need of reinforcements, primarily to Jerusalem, and noted that Israel Police is in close contact with the Shabak and the IDF. Klein also stressed that the country is now facing an extremely challenging period and that all options are on the table.
Meanwhile, deputy Public Security Minister Yoav Seglovitz has stated that the "seam line issue" is one that has been neglected for years, and that starting last week, the IDF and other security forces have been dealing with it. According to Seglovitz, decisions should be made calmly rather than in haste, taking the broader picture into account, and that if a closure were to be imposed on Judea and Samaria now, it would have far-reaching consequences.
Israel is at its highest level of alert following a successful operation on Saturday involving the liquidation of a terrorist cell that had been planning a serious attack. The cell was apprehended early on Saturday morning and a shootout with security forces ensued, resulting in the deaths of the three terrorists. The security establishment is also concerned regarding the likelihood of missile fire from Gaza. In cities across the country, in shopping areas, and in areas where there is a concentration of soldiers, security forces have been boosted, and intelligence operations have expanded their reach. In Judea and Samaria as well as in the Gaza periphery area, security has also been heightened, and six regiments have been stationed on the seamline area.
According to security sources, around 20 shooting attacks have been foiled in Israel since the start of 2022. These sources have also expressed their concern at armed terrorists "walking about freely," in their words, especially given the likelihood of "copycat" attacks following three "succesful" attacks in the past few weeks alone which were documented on Arab social media with fulsome expressions of rejoicing.
On Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a meeting with Shabak Chief Ronen Bar.
"We are at the height of a joint effort by all of our security forces to put an end to the recent series of terror attacks and bring security back to the citizens of Israel," Bennett said.
"Over Shabbat, Shabak, Israel Police, special forces, and the IDF foiled the ticking time bomb of another terror attack which was in the making, but we are working on the assumption that there will be additional attempts, and we are working even now to prevent them as well.
"Our people are working with great courage, around the clock, in a hostile and violent environment, and I want to wish a speedy recovery to those injured in the operation."