The Ephraim Regional Brigade thwarted the establishment of a new terrorist organization in the West Bank, the IDF announced Sunday.
In Kalkilya, the most central Palestinian city in the Ephraim region of the West Bank, a new terrorist organization had been established in recent months under IDF observation. Now, the organization has ceased to exist.
"I received an update on massive disturbances in Kalkilya," recalled Col. Netanel Shamka, commander of the Ephraim Region Brigade. "We are doing a lot of work in the city, and since the outbreak of the war we have arrested 130 Hamas operatives, so we realized that there was an unusual event here."
Kalkilya has approximately 70,000 residents who are primarily affiliated with Fatah. However, there is also a clear Hamas presence in the area. The city does not have a refugee camp, however there are several neighborhoods that have terrorists present.
As soon as the security forces in the area discovered the emerging terrorist organization, a divisional effort began with the cooperation of intelligence units, the Shin Bet, and the Border Police. The commanders created an action plan, intending to discover who is behind the battalion, what they are plan, and how best to thwart their activities.
"The founder of the battalion is Alaa Nizal, a terrorist with no affiliation to any terrorist organization," said Lieutenant A., the battalion's intelligence officer. "He and his supporters received funding totaling hundreds of thousands of shekels to carry out attacks. They operated in a very organized manner - using lookouts who warned of the IDF forces' locations and attempted to dispatch terrorists towards them."
Targeting the "head of the snake"
As the Ephraim Brigade built an intelligence arsenal on the emerging organization, they decided that Alaa Nizal must be eliminated.
"Alaa behaves like a fugitive," recounted the Brigade’s Colonel, "He wears a black baseball cap, conceals his face, sits in a café until two in the morning, and then returns home. After that, he wanders for a few hours to cover his tracks and stays with one of the activists or in other hidden apartments."
Therefore, an operation was launched to target him, which took almost 7 hours, involving reservist units and the Gideon unit (33). The operation began in the early hours of the morning. Alaa opened fire and fled immediately as the security forces closed in on him. Then, security forces chased after him and another senior figure, which ended in a firefight. The IDF forces eliminated both individuals.
Immediately after the two terrorists were eliminated, IDF forces entered terror cells based on collected intelligence to ensure that the organization's operatives would not succeed in appointing replacements. "Out of 8 replacements appointed after Alaa's elimination, half surrendered, and half were arrested," the battalion's intelligence officer announced.
"It needs to be clarified," noted the deputy commander of the battalion, Lieutenant Valeri, "That the 'Kalkilya Battalion' didn't consist of several battalion activists - but rather isolated terrorists, who were neutralized before they could execute the organization's plan. We arrested almost 30 operatives."
The security forces in the division continue to act to uproot the organization's infrastructure in Kalkilya. The unit ensures, "We will do everything to continue and maintain order."