Israeli forces foiled an attempted terrorist attack shortly before 8 pm on Tuesday night near the Jewish communities of Harish and Mevo Dotan, in the sector of the “Menashe” Regional Brigade. Both communities are located in the hills of Samaria.
The terrorist deviated from the lane in which he was driving and crashed his vehicle into an IDF jeep that was parked next to a military “pillbox” (observation post).
המחבל הערבי חוסל על ידי סיירת גבעתי האלופים.
ארדוף אויבי ואשיגם ולא אשוב עד כלותם pic.twitter.com/AjK8M5gSb3— תורת לחימה (@Torat_IDF)
No Israeli forces were hurt in the attack, and the terrorist was neutralized, the IDF said in a statement a few minutes later.
The attacker, who was still inside the vehicle at the time of the explosion, was eliminated. The military jeep was also burned in the conflagration.
“Firefighters and volunteers from the Samaria Regional Station are currently working to extinguish two vehicles near the community of Mevo Dotan,” said Atias Liran, spokesperson for the Samaria Regional Station and the Jordan Valley.
“Firefighters at the scene report both vehicles are fully engulfed [with flames] and are working to extinguish the fire,” he added.
The forces were not able to immediately extract the body of the terrorist from the burning vehicle. Fire and rescue service personnel were on the scene and working to extinguish the flames.
The reason the reason for the blast is being investigated because the flames — which destroyed both the terrorist’s vehicle and the IDF jeep — began after the attack.
“As always, in the city of Jenin our stormy youth are responding to the crimes of the occupation against our people, particularly the crimes against the prisoners,” Hamas terrorist spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in response to the news of the attack.
“This is a revolution that will not be stopped, regardless of the challenges and consequences.”