Multiple terror scares around Israel as tensions run high
The police and security forces around Israel received multiple reports of suspicious individuals on Wednesday and conducted manhunts for several of them, as tensions remained very high in the country following three terror attacks in the past week that left 11 victims dead.
Scene of the incident in Jerusalem. (Aryeh Savir/TPS)
In Jerusalem, the police received a report of suspects getting off the light rail in the area of the Mahane Yehuda market, after “expressing themselves and behaving in an unusual and suspicious manner.”
Police forces were called to the scene and located the suspects. When police spotted the two suspects, they brutally attacked the cops with punches and attempted to strangle them.
The police stated that during the fight with the suspects in an attempt to arrest them, and “in view of the danger to the police on the spot as a result of the suspects’ unusual violence against them,” a police officer fired at the suspects’ lower body and they were lightly injured.
Large police forces were called to the area. After the police arrested the suspects, they were evacuated for medical treatment.
An investigation of the identities of the two suspects reveals that they are Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem.
A police officer was lightly injured in the scuffle.
In Kiryat Malachi in the south, beginning in the early hours of the morning, the police conducted a large-scale operation to find Arabs illegally in the city, during which 17 suspects were arrested without work permits.
During the operation, one of the suspects who noticed the policemen fled and the policemen chased him, and at the same time, the police received reports about a suspect on the city streets.
After extensive searches by large police forces and with the assistance of a helicopter, the suspect, a resident of the Palestinian Authority, was arrested.
In Haifa, security forces arrested three Arabs from the Palestinian Authority who were in the city illegally.
The police identified two suspects who were sitting at a bus stop and had several bags in their possession. A quick investigation revealed that they were from Shechem (Nablus). They were arrested for questioning.
Two inspectors from the motorcycle unit of the municipal enforcement department located a suspicious person walking around with a bag. He was identified as an illegal from Jenin. He was arrested and taken for questioning.
The police received multiple other reports of terror scares and suspicious individuals.
Following the attack, municipalities around the country announced they were canceling events. Several announced they were suspending construction within the city’s boundaries, apparently to keep the Arab workers out.
The IDF and police announced they were recruiting and deploying further forces to prevent further attacks, or at least to provide a rapid response and the event of another attack.
Security tensions in Israel are high, after a series of terror attacks in the Jerusalem area and the murder of four Israelis in Be’er Sheva and another two in Hadera by Islamist terrorists, and ahead of the Muslim month of Ramadan, which usually spells an uptick in Muslim violence and acts of terrorism in Israel.
The country’s security establishment is bracing for violence, especially as Ramadan coincides with Passover, and following the first anniversary of Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021, which was launched by the IDF following a Hamas rocket attack on Jerusalem that began at the height of the Month of Ramadan.
