A Palestinian disguised as an IDF soldier was caught carrying a shotgun, knives and pepper spray near settlements in the West Bank on Monday afternoon.
He was spotted by local residents walking along Highway 60 between the settlements of Eli and Ma'ale Levona, was apprehended by an IDF patrol and taken for questioning. Hebrew media reported that the man said that he had intended to carry out an attack on Israelis.
Local Israeli residents called the emergency hotline for the Binyamin region which reported their sighting to the IDF and soldiers detained the man and found a stash of weapons and ammunition among his belongings.
He was armed with a shotgun and pepper spray and was also carrying other implements such as a switchblade, a cleaver and a screwdriver.
The Palestinian is a 20-year-old resident of Jenin who was imprisoned in the past for throwing an explosive. He admitted to security forces on Monday that he intended to carry out a terrorist attack.
On Sunday night, Israeli security forces in Jenin killed four Palestinians during a firefight which broke out during an arrest raid. One of the Palestinians killed was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades.
"The residents' vigilance prevented a severe attack," said Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council. "The residents who immediately called the Binyamin hotline acted correctly. In case of any security suspicion or security, do so and call 1208. Thank you to the IDF soldiers for the prompt action and to the members of the security department of the [regional] council. The combination of forces prevented a severe incident, thank God."
Social media users said the Palestinian had given himself away because he had made a number of errors in attempting to disguise himself as a soldier, including wearing his beret under the wrong shoulder strap, wearing shoes that weren't military issue and wearing a bucket hat on his head while the beret was on his shoulder.