Palestinian terror, Jewish terror: West Bank powder keg

Israeli security officials say they are facing a worrying increase in Palestinian terror throughout the West Bank and have warned of a potential large scale attack funded by Iran.

"The Iranians are delivering money and weapons to the West Bank. In recent months, we've seen an increase in Iranian efforts to turn the area into a real battlefield. The Palestinian Authority, like us, fears the possibility of a scenario similar to October 7 in the West Bank,” a security official told Sky News Arabic this week.

“We’re concerned about the possibility of a large-scale attack on one of the settlements or even within Israel and we’re preparing for such a scenario. While the current focus is on the northern West Bank, we’re also monitoring threats in the southern West Bank and operations may expand there as well.”

A major security operation to counter terrorism in the northern West Bank continues. The operation began on August 28 after a thwarted bomb attack on Tel Aviv but follows months of intensifying tensions in the area.

So far, according to the IDF, more than 30 gunmen have been killed in the operation, among them the head of Hamas in Jenin and the head of Islamic Jihad in the Tulkarem area. The dead also include some civilians, among them a 16-year-old girl.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that the military has been “mowing the lawn” during an ongoing major operation against terror groups in the West Bank, but will eventually need to “pull out the roots.”

Gallant said that “the rise of terror in Judea and Samaria is an issue that we need to be focused on at every moment.”