Israel Police have raised the alert level following an IDF operation earlier in the day aimed at arresting 24-year-old Hussam Aslim, a senior official with the local Lion’s Den terrorist organization and two others.
Police said they would focus their efforts on boosting security in towns close to the security barrier along the border with the Palestinian Authority, as well as in Jerusalem and other central cities.
Several reserve Border Police units have already been deployed to eastern Jerusalem following a series of recent deadly terror attacks that killed 11 Israelis, including at least three children.
Israeli Border Police, the IDF and the Shin Bet said in a joint statement issued Wednesday evening that the wanted suspects were involved in the planning of terror attacks, and “had the intention of carrying out shooting attacks within an immediate time frame. While under life-threatening enemy fire, the wanted terror suspects and other armed men were neutralized.”
Aslim and two others were shot and killed by the Israeli forces after they opened fire at the troops.
Muhammad Ah Fatah, 24 years old, was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who carried out shooting attacks against military forces in Judea and Samaria.
Walid Dahil, 24 years old, was a terror operative and one of the leaders of the Lions Den terror group which fired at military forces in Judea and Samaria.
Aslim was the third person in a terror cell that murdered IDF Staff Sgt. Ido Baruch in a shooting attack last October. The other two members of the terror cell were arrested last week.
The raid, which reduced a building to rubble and left a series of shops riddled with bullets, eliminated at least 10 Palestinian Authority operatives from several terror factions, and wounded approximately 100 more.
Israeli military and police officials said they anticipate possible attacks from Gaza and terrorists in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem in response to the raid.
As it has in response to other counter terrorism operations by Israel, the Palestinian Authority said it will turn to the United Nations Security Council and “request international protection for our Palestinian people in light of the continuing crimes of the occupation.”
