IDF forces have surrounded and sealed off the Palestinian Authority village of Bani Naim, located about five minutes south of Kiryat Arba in the wake of a terror attack committed by two of its residents. Only “humanitarian” cases are allowed to leave.
The move comes as part of the decision by the IDF to beef up its presence in the Hebron area after an escalation in terror attacks within 48 hours, three out of five of which took place in the city.
One of the attacks involved a vicious stabbing of an IDF soldier Saturday morning in Hebron.
תיעוד הפיגוע שהתרחש הבוקר בחברון • @OrHeller >> https://t.co/YU8LHhS8Xt pic.twitter.com/Z4LCXdLL03— חדשות 10 (@news10) September 17, 2016
The IDF deployed the Shimshon Battalion and the Kefir Brigade in Hebron. Brigadier-General Lior Carmeli, Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, toured the locations of the terror attacks that took place in the area.
Bani Naim is the same village that was home to the terrorist who murdered 13-year-old Hallel Ariel, stabbing her to death in her bed after climbing in her bedroom window the morning after her school year ended.
Two terrorists carried out a vehicle ramming attack at Elias Junction entrance to Kiryat Arba just prior to the start of the Sabbath a few minutes before sundown on Friday.
IDF troops guarding the area shot the terrorists. The male terrorist was killed, the female terrorist was wounded and taken to the hospital. Three Israeli teenagers suffered minor physical injuries and major trauma; they had to be treated for both as a result of the attack.
The Elias junction is a hitchhiking post in Judea next to a Paz gas station on Highway 60.