IDF commandos nab alleged Palestinian arms dealer in raid on West Bank’s Jenin

An alleged Palestinian arms dealer was captured by Israeli commandos during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday morning, the military said.

Troops of the Duvdevan Commando Unit raided Jenin, following intelligence provided by the Shin Bet, and captured an unnamed Palestinian who the military said was a member of a former terror network in the area.

“The terrorist served as a key weapons dealer and acted to procure and transfer weapons to the terror network,” the IDF said.

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Meanwhile, a car-ramming incident near the West Bank settlement of Ateret Thursday night, assessed by Israeli security officials to be a hit-and-run and not a terror attack, left an Israeli civilian lightly injured.

A preliminary investigation by the IDF found that settlers from an illegal outpost in the area disrupted traffic by attempting to block Palestinian motorists.

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One Palestinian driver, while trying to flee the settler roadblock, struck one of the settlers, injuring him. He was taken to a hospital in light-to-moderate condition.

“The forces launched a pursuit after the suspect and are establishing roadblocks in the area,” the military said.

Additionally, extremist settlers set fire to a Palestinian car parked near a house in the area of as-Samu in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills on Thursday, according to Palestinian media outlets.

There were no reports of injuries, Palestinian media outlets reported.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.

More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.

During the same period, 67 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025. The total for 2024 was 682 incidents.

Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers have regularly downplayed the burgeoning violence as a marginal concern, claiming that nearly all incidents are the work of a few hundred wayward youths.

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