Netanyahu: ‘Larger front’ could open in Judea and Samaria amid Hamas war

“Because while we are waging an intense war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, we are aware of the possibility that a larger and more intense front could open here in Judea and Samaria,” the premier said during a visit to the Border Police’s Mista’arvim undercover special forces unit for the region.

“They are simply doing holy work for the State of Israel. This is important at all times, but it is especially important now,” Netanyahu told the fighters.

During the visit, Netanyahu received a security briefing regarding developments in Judea and Samaria from Chief Supt. K., who leads the undercover unit.

The prime minister was shown “unique operational and tactical capabilities” of the special forces, as they carried out drills simulating scenarios faced during counter-terrorism operations against Palestinians throughout Judea and Samaria.

Netanyahu was accompanied by his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, his military secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman and spokesperson Omer Dostri, along with other senior Israeli security officials including Police Commissioner Daniel Levy and Border Police commander Brik Yitzhak.

Last week, the Israel Defense Forces was putting together a bank of targets to be attacked by the Air Force in the case of an Oct. 7, 2023-style terror attack in Judea and Samaria.

The plan would see IAF fighter jets, drones and helicopters bomb access roads to Jewish communities in the area, as well as other strategic targets, to slow down the terrorists’ advance, according to Israel Hayom.

Israel’s security forces have intensified operations throughout Judea and Samaria following the Feb. 20 failed bus bombings outside Tel Aviv. Three empty buses exploded, and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a large-scale coordinated terrorist attack.

More than two in three Israeli Jews fear that Arab terrorists based in Judea and Samaria could launch a significant terrorist attack similar to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, according to a survey the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs published last month.

In September, Israeli authorities filed an indictment against a member of a terrorist squad based in Jenin who planned to infiltrate Jewish civilian communities in Samaria and carry out an Oct. 7-style attack.

The indictment accused Osama Bani Fadl and other terrorist operatives of making serious preparations for a mass slaughter of Jewish residents of northern Samaria, including by infiltrating villages with vehicles.

The terrorist cell reportedly also planned major attacks inside the town of Ma’ale Efraim in the Jordan Valley, and a drive-by shooting and large car bombing at the gas station outside Eli in southern Samaria, a location that Palestinian terrorists targeted twice over the past two years.

Palestinian terrorists targeted Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO on Feb. 17.

Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.