'Eli' operation rids settlers of 'sense of security': Israeli media

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
21 Jun 2023 12:00

The "Eli" operation undermines the Israeli settlers' "sense of security" in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli media.

Bullet holes puncturing the windshield of a car belonging to a Palestinian man suspected of participating in a shooting in the illegal Israeli settlement of "Eli", June 20, 2023, Tubas, occupied West Bank (AFP)

Reporting on yesterday's operation in the "Eli" settlement, which killed 4 settlers and injured others, Israeli media described it as carefully planned and deliberated noting that "militants affiliated with organizations do not act spontaneously."

The operation, Israeli media reported, exhibits a planned pattern of action and coordination, pointing out that the operation was carried out by two Palestinians simultaneously.

"It was carried out easily and with firearms, and the West Bank is full of these weapons."

The Israeli newspaper Maariv noted that the peculiar location of the operation indicates that the fighters had insightful intel on IOF security logistics.

"The choice to carry out the attack specifically in the Benjamin sector, near the settlement of Eli, and not near Jenin or Nablus, was a conscious choice based on the belief that the Israeli army concentrates its presence on the roads and central intersections in the northern West Bank."

The Israeli paper also remarked that this operation was likely motivated by a desire for revenge after the last battle in Jenin.

The "Eli" operation, Maariv adds, indicates the shortcomings of the military establishment to prevent such attacks from happening, which has serious implications for the settler's "sense of security" within the occupied West Bank.

"[The operation] will spur preparations for a broader military operation in the northern West Bank. it is more reasonable for the security and military establishment to seek to suffice with a limited operation aimed at a temporary calm," Maariv added.

"The fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held security consultations yesterday, after the attack in Eli, specifically at the headquarters of the Central Command, is not a coincidence but rather aims to hint that the consultations are to take decisions for operational implementation on the ground, and not a loss of appreciation of the security situation," Israel Hayom reported.

Kan also reported that the session to assess the security situation, which was held by the occupation government, confirmed that occupation forces will be reinforced in the West Bank, in fear of additional operations.

The channel reported news about a dispute within the security establishment and at the same political level in the occupation entity regarding the expansion of "military operations" in the northern West Bank.

"The security and military establishment understand that something different must be done, and we recall that in assessing the situation," Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was not present, the political affairs correspondent for Channel 12 indicated.

Yesterday, Hamas praised the operation that targeted Israeli settlers near the settlement of "Eli" in the occupied West Bank

In a statement, Hamas affirmed that the operation was a "natural response to the massacre in Jenin yesterday, and to the occupation's plans to divide the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and complete the stages of its Judaization."

The movement confirmed that the operation was executed by fighters of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in the occupied West Bank in an act of "vengeance for the blood of the martyred leaders who were targeted by" Israeli occupation forces who led a "treacherous" aggression on Gaza. The Resistance group reaffirmed that the continuation of criminal acts by the IOF against the Palestinian people and their holy sites will lead to "a series of acts of resistance which will shake their [the occupation's] fragile state and turn" the lives "of their soldiers and settlers into nightmares."