WarSclerotic

IDF meets growing resistance from Palestinians in raids to find kidnapped teens

By YAAKOV LAPPIN 06/19/2014 10:27

Clashes have grown in scope in recent days as soldiers carry out West Bank arrests to gather information on the whereabouts of the abducted youths.

via IDF meets growing resistance from Palestinians in raids to find kidnapped teens | JPost | Israel News.

 

IDF operation in Hebron

Security forces continued to focus their searches for three kidnapped youths in Hebron overnight Thursday. Meanwhile, soldiers arrested 30 Palestinian suspects in raids, most of them Hamas members, including two who were released in the 2011 Gilad Schalit exchange with Hamas. Intelligence information led to the two prisoners that were released in the Schalit deal, a security source said Thursday morning.

In total, some 280 Palestinians – including 200 Hamas members – have been taken into Israeli custody since the start of the kidnapping crisis. During raids on Thursday morning, 14 Hamas civilian institutions, used to propagate its ideology and spread its influence (known as Da’awa institutions), and a Hamas student university union (known as a Kutla) at Birzeit Univeristy were targeted. At Birzeit, equipment was seized that is linked to managing the student union.

Security forces say there is growing friction with Palestinians during West Bank raids. Clashes broke out overnight at Birzeit, Jenin, and Bethlehem. In Jenin, two Palestinians hurled explosives at soldiers. Soldiers shot and struck the two attackers. Their condition is unknown.

Clashes are not as serious as they were a decade ago, but have grown in scope in recent days, the source said.

The IDF does not expect the coming Friday to be different from past Fridays. The Ramadan holiday, due to begin in eight days, has in recent years seen 250,000 Palestinians arrive at the Temple Mount for prayers, and in past years, during the Eid El-Fitr holiday, Israel gave Palestinian youths access to Tel Aviv beaches. “The coming holiday is expected to be different, this will be determined in the coming days,” said the source.

All the while, an ongoing intelligence effort to gather information on the whereabouts of the abducted youths is taking place, the source stressed. The threat of additional kidnappings “exists all of the time throughout the Judea and Samara sector, effective for these days too,” the source warned.

He provided an explanation into how Hamas uses social services to deepen its control in the West Bank.

“Hamas has based its political support through supporting the population. At first they open a store, but the public fears identifying with Hamas openly, so they open a school, and give all services for free. This causes the population to start supporting. Eventually, the population supports Hamas completely openly,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force struck five terrorist targets in Gaza early on Thursday in response to a Palestinian rocket attack on the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, which damaged a home.

Targets included an underground rocket launcher, and two operational sites in northern Gaza, and two additional sites in central Gaza.

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