IDF Spars With Terrorists In Northern Samaria, Wanted Terrorist Arrested After Surrendering

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — IDF troops exchanged gunfire with terrorists in the northern Samaria village of Kabatiya. According to Palestinian media reports, the troops surrounded a building where suspects were hiding and called on them to surrender. The terrorists responded with gunfire and seven people were injured in the gun battle. Eventually one wanted terrorist, Alaa Zakarna, a member of Islamic Jihad, turned himself in, allegedly because his ammunition had run out.

The IDF said that troops had come under gunfire during the operation and returned fire. No soldiers were hurt. The PIJ said its members had shot at IDF troops as they “besieged” Zakarna’s home for an hour and a half.

Dozens of Palestinians hurled stones at IDF vehicles entering the town.

The town has been a hotbed of terrorism since the first Intifada, when tens of residents were killed and wounded in hostile exchanges with the IDF. Terrorists from the town were responsible for the death of Israelis during the second Intifada.

The past week has seen an escalation in attacks on IDF and civilians in Judea and Samaria. Besides a six-year-old girl hit by a stray bullet, an Israeli security vehicle was shot at on Friday night near Shavei Shomron. Two IDF positions in Shechem and Silwad came under attack from terrorist gunfire. There were no casualties in these incidents.

At the beginning of this month, Israel’s arrest of Islamic Jihad’s West Bank leader, Bassem Saadi, sparked a three-day round of fighting with the terror group in the Gaza Strip during which the IDF killed several of the group’s top leaders and Islamic Jihad fired more than 1,000 rockets toward Israel.