There has been a significant rise in shooting attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past month, an increase of around 47 percent according to new data released by the Shin Bet internal security agency.
The numbers released by the agency showed that in the month of September there were a total of 34 shooting attacks. That’s more than once per day.
The data marked an increase from the 23 shooting attacks in August and a significant increase from 15 in July- 126%.
According to the Shin Bet, there were a total of 212 attacks compared to 172 in August, a rise of 23 percent. Meanwhile, July saw 113 and June had a total of 147 attacks.
The majority of attacks were Molotov Cocktails-a total of 139 compared to 135 in August and only 75 in July. In addition, there were also 53 pipe bombs compared to 39 in August vs 27 in the previous month. September also saw four stabbing attacks compared to only one in September.
There were also four assaults and four vehicular ramming attacks.
Attempted ramming attack
On Monday morning two Palestinians were shot dead and another injured by IDF troops in the Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah after they attempted to run over the troops during an arrest raid in the area. They were identified by Palestinian media as Basel Basbous and Khalid Anbar.
“During the activity, a ramming attack was attempted against the forces, who responded by firing and neutralized the two suspects,” the IDF said.
“During the activity, a ramming attack was attempted against the forces, who responded by firing and neutralized the two suspects.”
IDF statement
September was also a deadly month, with 14 Israelis injured and two were killed.
Maj. Bar Falach killed
On September 15th, 30-year-old Maj. Bar Falach from the Nahal Brigade’s elite reconnaissance battalion was killed after two Palestinian terrorists opened fire on him and his force near Jenin. A week later, on September 21th, 84-year-old Shulamit Rachel Ovadiah was killed only 50m from her home in Holon after she was beaten by a 28-year-old Palestinian who was legally in Israel.
The suspect, Mousa Sarsour, was later found hanging in an abandoned building on central Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, 15 Israelis were injured during the attacks in August, both civilians, and troops.
The rise in attacks comes as the IDF continues to carry out regular operations in the West Bank, focusing on cities like Jenin and Nablus as well as their refugee camps, as part of Operation Break the Wave in order to put an end to terror attacks against Israelis.
Over 100 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,500 have been arrested and security forces have focused on the northern part and cities like Jenin and Nablus. But despite the high number of arrests, the increase in shooting attacks has become a major source of concern for the IDF.
Despite the military attempting to crack down on weapons smuggling, sources told The Jerusalem Post that the many years without a strong barrier between Israel and the West Bank allowed for a significant amount of weapons to flow into the hands of gunmen.
“There was a lot of smuggling, you can just imagine what went through,” one source said in a recent interview, adding that “now we have to fix those years of mistakes.”