The successful operation of the IDF in the city of Nablus on February 22, during which 11 Palestinians were killed, 6 of whom were members of the terrorist group Lions Den is the third successful operation in recent weeks in which IDF special forces succeed in penetrating deep into Palestinian cities and killing terrorists who planned to carry out attacks and leave In peace without any casualties.
Before that there were two operations similar to it, one in the Aqbat Jaber refugee camp in the Jericho area and the other in the Jenin refugee camp.
The operation in Nablus received a huge response in the Palestinian and international media and provoked a response of firing rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad make sure to launch rockets at Israel as a response to every successful action by the IDF in killing terrorists in the West Bank in order to emphasize the equation of uniting all fronts established by Hamas in May 2021.
The message sent by the IDF and the Shin Bet through these operations is addressed to the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist organizations and says: Israel’s hand is long, there are no cities of refuge for terrorists in Judea and Samaria, and the IDF will reach out to any terrorist who plans to kill Israeli soldiers and civilians.
The terrorist organizations promise revenge and they will try to carry out revenge attacks even without connection to the operation in Nablus, it is possible that these will actually be individual terrorists who will carry out the revenge as it was in the past, there is nothing new in this, the motivation for terrorism has increased since May 2021, after the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip they began the formation of the new terrorist groups in northern Samaria without the Palestinian Authority preventing their formation and since then it has even refused to fight against them.
The terrorist organizations are planning to increase the attacks towards the month of Ramadan in order to bring about a third intifada, they are satisfied with the developments so far, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh published a statement on February 23 in which he said that the Palestinian people will not allow anyone to suppress the intifada that has begun to develop in the West Bank and added that the campaign against the enemy is entering a stage of strong desperation (of Israel) and breaking the occupiers and expelling them from the land of our fathers and grandfathers.”
The aim of Hamas is to bring the area to a big explosion during the month of Ramadan, the developments on the ground are in its favor:
The Palestinian Authority is in a process of continuous weakening, in Israel a right-wing government has been established which is in the process of confrontation with the international community and in a deep political crisis within Israel itself and the new Palestinian young generation is discouraged by the corrupt Palestinian Authority and thirsts for a confrontation against Israel, the Palestinian incitement system takes advantage of this and the social networks encourage the young to initiate terror attacks and become Tik Tok heroes.
The IDF will be forced to launch more similar operations deep in Palestinian territory because the Palestinian Authority continues to violate the Oslo Accords and no longer fights against terrorism, most of the Palestinian public in the West Bank is not interested in a new intifada, about 160 thousand Palestinians work in Israel and they want to continue supporting their families , however, it is possible that the rate of development of the violent events will dictate a completely different reality for them.
The IDF’s successful operation in Nablus is another strong blow to the terrorist group known as the Lions’ Den, the high capacity of the IDF soldiers and the accurate intelligence of the Shin Bet increase the frustration of the Palestinians and also challenge them, they will now try to carry out severe revenge attacks that will hurt Israel in order to restore their dignity in the Palestinian street.
The test in the month of Ramadan
The month of Ramadan is the test point for the Palestinian terrorist organizations who want to turn the current security situation into a new armed intifada against Israel and against them the Israeli security forces who will try to prevent this.
The violent events have so far not developed into a total intifada due to several reasons:
A. The continuation of the internal Palestinian division between the Fatah movement and the Hamas movement.
B. The Palestinian Authority refuses to sponsor the terrorist activities of the armed groups
C. Most of the Palestinian public in the West Bank does not participate in the violent events, and the situation is similar in East Jerusalem.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem are interested in continuing to work within the borders of the State of Israel.
In the coming months, the terrorist organizations will try to expand the establishment of the armed groups to other areas in Judea and Samaria and to challenge Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Estimates on the Palestinian street are that within a few weeks it will be possible to talk about a new intifada in the West Bank , as the number of Palestinian deaths increases, the number of those joining the new intifada will increase.
