Arab terrorists from the village of Madama in Samaria placed an explosive device on Monday morning on the Gilad road to harm Jewish drivers. The device was found before it could detonate and was neutralized by an explosive disposal expert.
The incident, which constitutes a concerning step up in the severity of attacks in the area, comes after a long list of rock and firebomb attacks over the past few weeks on the road, some of which injured residents and caused heavy damage to their vehicles.
Residents of the Jewish communities in the area warned that the terrorists' boldness is increasing and the frequency of attacks sometimes reaches three a day on the same part of the road.
Sara Sternleib, a resident of Havat Gilad who was hit by rocks on her way home last week, recounted: "Next to the village of Madama I noticed two masked teens standing on the side of the road, they were really young, about 12 years old. The second I passed by, each one threw a rock, one hit my front windshield and one hit the mirror. The reality where Arab children carry out acts of terror without fear shows that there is zero deterrence on the ground."
"In recent weeks, the security situation in Samaria has been dangerously and worryingly deteriorating," the Fighting for Life organization, which advocates against terrorism in Judea and Samaria, stated on Monday. "It starts with singular rock attacks, moves to regular daily firebombs and rock terrorism, and now it has gotten to an IED in the middle of a main road in Samaria.
"All data on the ground points indicate that the terrorists are not deterred, and the IDF must quickly change its security approach and show who's boss. individual arrests are nice, but if you want to eradicate terror, Madama, the village of murderers, must shake. The soldiers in the field are just waiting for permission from the command, but it only chooses to restrict the rules of engagement even more. We call on the defense establishment to declare war today on the village of murderers as it did in Gaza, to evacuate the population and systematically destroy the terrorist infrastructure in every village that produces terrorists to restore security in the area," the organization added.