IDF Soldiers Seize Weapons, Terror Funds in Overnight Sweeps

IDF soldiers overnight Monday seized weapons that were to be used in terror attacks. Soldiers, working with police, discovered a cache of weapons in Anata, a village north of Yerushalayim, and seized hand guns, components for the assembly of rifles, ammunition, commando knives and more. Several suspects were arrested and the cache confiscated.

In a statement, police said that such weapons were often used in terror attacks, and that security forces were determined to seize all weapons that were being held illegally by all people, in order to better protect all Israelis and residents of Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, who are also under threat by terrorists and criminals.

Overnight Monday soldiers also swept through the village of Jama’in in the Chevron region and seized tens of thousands of shekels in “terror funds,” money paid by terror groups to Arabs for carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians and security officers. The money is paid out by both Hamas and Fatah, the latter using official Palestinian Authority funds. The IDF has been cracking down on these payments, and has seized millions of shekels in cash and goods like vehicles and electronics in recent months.

Overnight Monday, security officials said that they arrested 12 wanted security suspects in areas across Yehudah and Shomron. The suspects were wanted for participating in rioting and throwing stones and firebombs that endangered Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. Several of the suspects were also charged with belonging to Hamas. All were being questioned on their activities by security forces.