IDF draws down massive Samaria counterterror op: 100 terrorists killed, hundreds of houses demolished

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is approaching the end of the massive counterterror operation against several terror strongholds in Samaria it dubbed “Iron Wall.”

According to the military, during the operation that is now in its fourth month, it eliminated over 100 terrorists, arrested over 300 terror suspects, and confiscated 450 various weapons. Additionally, hundreds of IEDs and pipe bombs were dismantled.

“Iron Wall” is unique in its scope and ambition compared to previous IDF operations in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and included 14 air strikes as well as the first use of tanks in the area in over 20 years.

The operation aimed to eliminate the terror groups operating in the camps, after they repelled a previous offensive by Palestinian security forces.

In another significant change from previous strategies, the IDF decided to permanently station troops in several areas that are supposed to be under Palestinian security control under the Oslo Accords.

According to media reports, the operation also aimed to challenge the refugee narrative by breaking up the densely built urban jungles of the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams "refugee camps."

According to IDF statistics cited by Ynet News, the soldiers razed over 100 buildings in Jenin, and another 100 in the Tulkarm and Nur a-Shams camps, carving access roads through the camps to prevent the terrorists’ use of the narrow roads to block advances or prevent medical evacuations.

“To prevent terror from reestablishing itself in northern Samaria, the army is making changes to the camps, including opening roads to ensure freedom of movement and operational flexibility for our troops. As part of this plan, Central Command has announced its intention to demolish additional buildings. These demolitions are the result of thorough evaluations and are limited to the minimum necessary to guarantee security.”

Troops also destroyed dozens of buildings that served as weapons laboratories or were otherwise used by terrorists, for example, to observe the over 100 surveillance cameras that tracked IDF patrols to precisely time roadside bombings.

During a media tour this week, commanders told Ynet News that capturing and clearing the camps was completed two months ago, and since then, soldiers have been based in the camps while hunting for militants who fled the surrounding countryside.

Since the last firefight in Jenin some four months ago, not even riots have broken out there, commanders said.

Around 3,000 residents of the camp are still displaced, but in the city of Jenin itself, normalcy reigns as the Israeli “carrots and sticks” policy now again allows Israeli Arabs to cross into Jenin for shopping, boosting the local economy with NIS 17 million last weekend alone.

“The malls in Jenin are packed, the stores are bustling, the schools are all open – and that’s not something to be taken for granted, considering there’s a permanent IDF force operating inside the city’s refugee camp,” said an IDF official.

“We have solid coordination with the Palestinian security forces in the area. In their last major operation here a year ago, they couldn’t even advance past the second row of buildings due to heavy militant resistance. Six of their officers were killed. What they did in six weeks, we’ve done in 24 hours.”

In the countryside, several dozen terrorists remain on the run, including a dozen with “blood on their hands,” according to the IDF’s Central Command.

The military is now drawing down the regular troops from the Kfir Brigade and the 188th Armored Brigade, including the four tanks, in preparation for the planned large offensive in Gaza.

They are set to be replaced by some of the thousands of reservists who were called up, some of them for the fifth or sixth time during this war, to free the regular soldiers for the Gaza offensive.

According to IDF estimates, the operation will now continue on a lower intensity, and the two additional battalions stationed in northern Samaria could be withdrawn by the end of the year.