IDF and Border Police raid West Bank over support for October 7 attack

Israeli troops and Border Police officers carried out several operations across the West Bank overnight into Wednesday, aiming to arrest and question dozens of wanted suspects over alleged involvement in terrorism and incitement, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Times of Israel reported that the military described the raids as brigade-level operations and said the suspects included people accused of voicing support for the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7, 2023.

The operations took place on the day Israel marked three years since that attack. Haaretz, citing the military, said the forces set out to detain and interrogate dozens of people suspected of terrorism and incitement. A Hebrew-language statement attributed to the IDF and carried by News.co.il said the focus was particularly on suspects who had expressed backing for what it called the October 7 massacre.

Who carried out the raids

The IDF is Israel's military. The Border Police, known in Hebrew by the acronym Magav, is a paramilitary branch of the Israel Police that regularly operates alongside soldiers in the West Bank. The Hebrew statement referred to the joint forces as operating in "Judea and Samaria", the biblical names that Israeli officials and the military use for the West Bank. In Hebrew this is often shortened to an acronym, Ayosh, which appears in the original statement.

A brigade is a large military formation, and describing an operation as brigade-level generally signals that it involved more forces than a routine arrest raid. The reports say there were several such operations running at the same time, spread across the territory rather than concentrated in one town.

Where the forces went

The West Bank is the territory lying between Israel and Jordan, home to a large Palestinian population as well as Israeli settlements. Israeli forces conduct arrest operations there frequently.

According to The Times of Israel, WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, reported that troops entered the village of Beit Duqqu, north of Jerusalem, and Isawiyah, a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel, a step that most of the international community does not recognise, and its Palestinian neighbourhoods are policed by Israeli authorities. The IDF statements quoted in the reports did not name specific locations, so the account of these two places rests on WAFA.

The October 7 anniversary

On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters crossed from Gaza into southern Israel and killed more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, The Times of Israel noted. The attack triggered the war in Gaza and remains the deadliest single day in Israel's history. The raids were reported on the anniversary itself, a day of memorial events across the country.

The military framed the targets as people involved in terrorism and incitement, with explicit mention of public expressions of support for the attack. Incitement to terrorism is an offence under Israeli law, and Israeli authorities have in the past detained people over statements, including online posts, that they regard as praising attacks. The reports do not describe which statements or acts led to the arrests in this case.

How the reports differ

The accounts broadly agree on what the forces set out to do, but differ in tense and framing. Haaretz, The Times of Israel and the Hebrew statement on News.co.il describe operations already under way overnight. The headline of The Jerusalem Post described the IDF as set to launch several operations to arrest and interrogate October 7 sympathisers, and attributed this to a report, rather than describing raids in progress. The Post's report as received contains little beyond that headline.

The wording also varies. Haaretz summarised the suspects as accused of terrorism and incitement, while the Hebrew statement and The Times of Israel gave particular weight to support for the October 7 attack.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports gives an exact number of people arrested or questioned; all use the word dozens. They do not say how many people were released after questioning, whether any charges have been filed, or what evidence of incitement the security forces relied on. Apart from the two locations reported by WAFA, the reports do not identify the towns or villages involved. They do not mention injuries, clashes or any resistance during the raids, nor whether the operations had ended by the time of publication. The reports also do not say whether any of those detained belong to an armed group.