Palestinians Riot in Yerushalayim

Fear of Terrorist Attacks Grows

While thousands of IDF soldiers continue to search throughout the territories for the kidnappers and murderers of the three Jewish boys whose bodies were found near Kfar Kchil, in Har Chevron, Israel fears that Palestinian terror cells will try to carry out attacks within the Green Line and against IDF soldiers and residents throughout Yehudah and Shomron. Over the last 24 hours, the IDF deployed large forces to the areas of the ongoing riots and to the seam lines around Yerushalayim in an effort to calm things down. The commanders and soldiers were ordered to use discretion in their responses to the violence so as not to fan the flames of an already furious population.

On Tuesday night, forces arrested another 42 terrorists, 40 of them from Hamas, including Busha Tawil, one of those released in the Shalit deal, who joined one of the organizations and became active again.

Six more charity institutions run by Hamas in Yehudah and Shomron have been shut down, bringing the total number since Operation Shuvu Achim began to 69.

Thirty-one homes were raided during the past day, bringing to total number of homes inspected since the onset of the operation to 2,221.

Terrorists fired more than 15 rockets toward Israel, only 3 of which were shot down by Iron Dome batteries. Israeli aircraft retaliated by firing on terror targets in the Gaza Strip including cells that were launching missiles at Israel, and destroyed several mortar launchers that had been used a few minutes earlier in an attempt to harm IDF soldiers near the border fence.

Most of the rockets fell in open areas in the Eshkol and Negev regional councils and south of Ashkelon.

Reports from the Gaza Strip said that senior command officials from the terror organizations have abandoned their bases and have gone into hiding for fear of targeted assassinations by Israel.

Yesterday morning, terrorists tried to down an Israeli military helicopter flying near the border with anti-aircraft missiles. However, the helicopter detected the missile and, bechasdei Shamayim, was unharmed.

In Yerushalayim on Wednesday, hundreds of Palestinians rioted, throwing rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at police and journalists.

The Palestinian riots began in the morning and continued into Wednesday afternoon.

Five border police officers were reported lightly injured in the riots. Two of the injured officers were evacuated to hospital while the others were treated at the scene.

In addition, light rail stations were set on fire in Shuafat, Asa-El and Beit Hanina, prompting the closure of the light rail in the adjoining areas.

As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a total of four improvised pipe bombs had been thrown at police in Ras Al-Amud; only one detonated. No injuries were reported.

A paramedic for the Red Cross, Raji Al-Hurain, said that 37 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and that 17 of the injured required hospitalization.

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the July 3rd, 2014 edition of Hamodia.