Following Deadly Terror Attack, IDF Conducts West Bank Raids, Strikes Hamas Targets In Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces conducted large-scale overnight raids in Palestinian towns and villages, a day after two soldiers—Captain Ziv Daus and Sergeant Netanel Kahalani—were killed in a terrorist attack near the West Bank Jewish community of Mevo Dotan. The car-ramming, which injured two other soldiers, was perpetrated by 26-year-old Palestinian Alaa Kabha, a former security prisoner released last year, who was re-captured after Friday’s attack by Israeli forces. It occurred as Palestinians held widespread “rage” demonstrations throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip—which quickly devolved into clashes with Israeli army personnel—to mark 100 days since U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Amid the escalating tensions, the IDF on Saturday conducted several retaliatory strikes against Hamas assets in Gaza, including destroying two subterranean tunnels, one of which stretched into Israeli territory; this, after an explosive device was detonated along the border, the fourth time over the past month that a bomb was set off near the frontier. In response, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of both inciting the violence in the West Bank and seeking to provoke a conflict between Israel and Hamas, which Abbas blames for last week’s attempted assassination of PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.