Israeli security forces on Monday neutralized a Palestinian terrorist who drove a heavy tractor through a military barrier in Hebron towards the local Jewish community, all the while livestreaming the attack on social media.
The terrorist attempted to ram the force guarding the post, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Soldiers at the post, together with Border Police officers who were returning from operations and arrived at the scene, opened fire and neutralized the terrorist,” said the in a IDF statement.
The attacker’s condition was not immediately known.
There were no reports of Israeli casualties.
Under the Oslo Accords, Hebron is located in Area A of Judea and Samaria, under full Palestinian Authority administrative and security control, except for a small Jewish enclave consisting of some 800 heavily protected families.
On Sunday night, Israeli forces arrested two Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem armed with a knife near a synagogue in the capital’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood.
The suspects also had with them a kippah and a necklace with a Star of David pendant, suggesting they were planning to disguise themselves as Jews.
Earlier on Sunday, a terrorist killed two Israeli tourists in Alexandria, Egypt, near an ancient Roman triumphal column called Pompey’s Pillar.
The group’s Egyptian tour guide was also killed and another Israeli was wounded.
Israeli media reported that the terrorist was an Egyptian police officer.
The developments come amid ongoing fighting sparked by Hamas’s killing of at least 700 Israelis on Saturday in a massive offensive launched from the Gaza Strip, that included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel and the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces.
On Sunday, the Israeli Security Cabinet authorized the start of the offensive phase of “Operation Swords of Iron,” ordering the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the “destruction of the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped plan the Hamas attacks and green-lit them in Beirut during a meeting last Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
Edited by Othieno B and Newsdesk Manager
