Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the country’s security forces “thwarted a ticking time bomb” early on Saturday morning during an operation in the area of Jenin in the West Bank, during which three operatives of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group were killed. The operatives had been poised to enter Israel to commit a shooting attack, according to officials. The operation was executed by the Shin Bet security service, the Israel Police and the Israel Defense Forces. An Israel Police officer, a senior commander in the Yamam counter-terrorism unit identified only as Chief Superintendent S., was seriously injured in the operation.
“We certainly assume there will be many more attempts and we are working right now to prevent them,” Bennett said in a staement. “Our people act with great bravery, around the clock, in a hostile and violent environment, and I want to send a speedy recovery to the wounded in the operation.”
Bennett also said: “Terrorism is nothing new. Once it is Hamas, once it is Islamic Jihad, this time there is some involvement of the Islamic State. Terrorism and violence have not moved us in the past. On the contrary, they have united us and fortified us, causing us to unite in our country and defend our country with all our might, together. We will also get through this difficult time.”
The operation comes after three terror attacks in less than two weeks executed in Israel, two by Israeli Arab assailants with links to the Islamic State and one by a Palestinian man from the West Bank.