Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, the IDF has “taken the gloves off” in Judea and Samaria as the terror group has stepped up its efforts there, observers say.

Iran is continuing its efforts to flood Judea and Samaria with weapons, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned on Sunday, a day after the Israel Defense Forces eliminated two terrorist cells in the Tulkarem area. 

One of the cells was en route to carry out an attack when it the car it was traveling in was hit by an Israeli airstrike, according to the IDF. All five members of the cell were killed.

According to Hamas, one of the casualties was a commander of its Tulkarem brigade, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed the other casualties, according to Reuters.

Hours later, the IDF and Israel Security Agency jointly announced the elimination of a second cell via an airstrike in the Tulkarem area. Troops from the IDF’s elite Duvdevan unit directed the airstrike on four terrorists who were shooting at Israeli forces, according to the statement. Palestinian media reports later identified one of the casualties as a local Hamas commander. 

Following the counterterror operations in the area, the IDF released images of ammunition seized, much of which, according to Hagari, arrives in Judea and Samaria from Iran.

“For years Iran has been arming terror organizations in Middle East, including [creating] smuggling infrastructure for bombs,” he added. 

These efforts include the smuggling into Israel of anti-personnel mines for use in terror attacks, said Hagari, noting that the IDF and ISA had disrupted many such plots. “We are determined to act against Iranian terror in all places,” he stated. 

Harel Chorev, head of the Doron Halpern Middle East Network Analysis Desk at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, is a resident of one of the communities of Hefer Valley area, which is not far from Tulkarem.  

His community had received a security warning prior to the cell’s elimination, he said.

Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, the IDF has “taken off the gloves” with regard to Judea and Samaria, according to Chorev.

Several hundred terror operatives have been killed in Judea and Samaria since then, he said, and the Israeli Air Force has returned to operating in the area for the first time since the Second Intifada, which broke out in 2000. 

Until Oct. 7, it was up to ground forces to deal with terrorists in Judea and Samaria, “a much longer and more cumbersome process,” he said.  

The terrorist battalions in the region are seemingly independent and devoid of factional affiliation, but in reality number among their members operatives of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah, he explained.

“They work under the ‘national unity’ banner. The first example was Lions’ Den in Nablus. Northern Samaria saw other battalions set up. This is the main security challenge,” he added. 

These battalions are being fueled by Iranian weapons smuggling via Jordan, as well as funding from Hamas, which is prepared to support them whether or not they formally affiliate with the Gaza-based terrorist group, he said. 

“Hamas for years was prepared to work ‘behind the scenes,’” said Chorev. “In the past, this was at the media incitement level, but it has become more than that,” he added.

According to Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Long War Journal, the various terror factions have entrenched themselves in certain areas of Judea and Samaria to a dangerous degree.

“Tulkarem has emerged as a significant hotspot for terrorism, akin to Jenin and Nablus,” he said. “Groups such as Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades have firmly established their presence in the area,” he added.

These groups have established IED laboratories, where they produce explosives in large quantities, capable of inflicting significant casualties, he continued. Moreover, disturbingly, even with near-daily Israeli counter-terrorism operations, these groups continue their assaults on both civilian and military targets.

“[For] more than three years after the surge in violence began in the West Bank, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades have been the dominant forces behind attacks on Israeli troops and civilians,” he said. “However, in the past six months, there has been a notable increase in terrorism attributed to Hamas in the territory. This increase indicates that Hamas is shifting its focus toward the West Bank, as operating in Gaza has become increasingly challenging due to the ongoing war.”  

** This article was originally published on JNS.org **