Following spate of attacks throughout Israel, IDF also arrests family of Jaffa terrorist, prepares homes for demolition
Police arrested hundreds of illegal Palestinian workers, and dozens of Israelis who employed them, in a series of raids across the country on Wednesday and Thursday.
Over 270 people were detained at construction sites and “gathering points,” including 15 supervisors, a police statement said.
“Based on the current security situation, in the past few days the Israel Police has increased enforcement measures against people illegally residing in Israel,” the statement read.
In one operation, 22 Palestinians were arrested at makeshift living quarters near the Besor Stream national park in southern Israel, police said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday ordered a series of measures following three bloody attacks by Palestinians the previous day, two of which were carried out by Palestinians in Israel illegally.
The measures are to include repair work to seal gaps in the security barrier near Jerusalem, harsher punishments for those who help Palestinians illegally enter Israel, and the shutting down of Palestinian media channels that broadcast incitement.
In addition to the police operations, IDF troops arrested overnight Wednesday family members of a Palestinian terrorist who carried out the deadly stabbing spree in Jaffa on Tuesday, according to Palestinian media sources.
The father and brother of Bashar Massalha were detained by soldiers during operations in their West Bank village of Hajjas, located between Nablus and Qalqilya, the Maan news agency reported.
One Palestinian man who was living illegally in Israel was deported, with Channel 10 reporting that he had tried to stop the stabbing spree. The man, aged 29, was selling jewelry on the Tel Aviv beach promenade as Massalha fled police, attacking pedestrians in his path. He reportedly ran in front of Massalha and attempted to tackle him. He was initially arrested as a suspect, but when police learned that he had attempted to prevent the attack, he was deported instead.
The army said six people from the village were arrested but did not give details on their identities. A total of 31 Palestinians were arrested in overnight raids, including five men suspected of direct involvement in recent attacks on civilians and security forces, the IDF said.
On Tuesday night, Massalha, 22, killed an American tourist, US Army veteran Taylor Force, and injured some 10 other people, five critically, in a stabbing spree at the Jaffa Port and along the Tel Aviv beach promenade.
He was shot dead by police after a chase from the Jaffa Port along the Tel Aviv beach promenade. Graphic footage from the scene of the attack appeared to show a policeman shooting one round at the stabber as he lay on the ground, with civilians cheering and urging him and other officers to aim for his head. The Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department said it is weighing opening an investigation into the volunteer cop.
Troops also mapped out the Massalha family home — a procedure conducted ahead of home demolitions — as well as the home of 18-year old Abed el-Rahman Mahmoud Radad in the West Bank village of Zawiya.
Radad had carried out a stabbing attack on Tuesday in Petah Tikva. One Israeli man was injured when Radad follwed him into a shop and stabbed him several times in the upper body. The victim managed toremove the knife from his neck and used it to stab and kill Radad, aided by the store owner, police said.
Israel currently uses home demolitions against families of attackers, saying the measure is meant to deter attacks. Critics say the demolitions are a form of collective punishment.
Several measures against families of terrorists have been proposed in response to the ongoing wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis. Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) formally submitted a bill Wednesday to the Knesset to deport families of Palestinian terrorists to the Gaza Strip.
The proposal would allow the Israeli government to deport families of Palestinian attackers from the West Bank, if they were aware of their relatives’ plans, encouraged them, or aided them in some way.
Twenty-nine Israelis and four non-Israelis have been killed in a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October. About 180 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.
As reported by The Times of Israel