Large-scale attack against IDF forces thwarted by PA in Hebron

Israeli border police detonate large IED after receiving information from Palestinian security forces.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Updated: NOVEMBER 6, 2016 23:59
IDF soldiers in Hebron (photo credit: REUTERS)
IDF soldiers in Hebron
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority security forces foiled a terror attack against the Israeli Defense Forces this weekend after sharing intelligence about an explosive device attached to a barrier that separates the Israeli side of Hebron from the Palestinian side.
A PA security source said that the suspected attacker, who was arrested on Friday before he could carry out the attack, is a resident of the West Bank town of Kalkilya and part of a cell based abroad.
He had planned to throw a Molotov cocktail towards IDF forces and escape, remotely detonating the device, a 12 kg. gas cylinder, while being pursued, in order to maximize the number of casualties.
PA security forces immediately informed the IDF and Israeli police, who safely detonated the device on Friday night. Footage captured by residents showed a large fireball, but no injuries were reported.
Since the beginning of the latest wave of violence to hit Israel and the West Bank, numerous attacks have been thwarted in and around Hebron, a stronghold of the Islamist movement Hamas.
On November 1, Israeli border police officers thwarted an attack by a Palestinian woman near the Cave of the Patriarchs. She had been carrying two large knives in her purse and had planned a stabbing attack against Israelis.
As part of the security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, PA security forces have stopped many attacks in the West Bank. A Palestinian Authority security source said that they “expect that the Israelis would do the same” to prevent attacks against Palestinians.