IDF Arrests Suspect With Loaded Gun Who Started Fire at West Bank Kibbutz
A photo of an improvised gun seized by IDF forces near Migdal Oz in the West Bank on July 25, 2022.
Israeli forces apprehended a suspect armed with a loaded, improvised gun in the West Bank on Monday evening, the military said, after the man threw a Molotov cocktail near Kibbutz Migdal Oz.
Troops who scouted the area after the suspect was caught also found an explosive device, according to the military. An X-ray taken of his improvised gun, shared by the IDF after the incident, showed that it was loaded with a bullet in its chamber.
The man has since been transferred for further questioning.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, the suspect, a Palestinian, was spotted by the forces while lying in ambush in the bushes. The IDF assessed that he sought to attack the forces who arrived on the scene to extinguish the fire he ignited, the outlet reported.
The incident comes as Israel continues to grapple with a wave of violence by Palestinian and Arab Israeli perpetrators, with more than 60 people killed or injured in terrorist attacks since March.
Just a day earlier, Israeli forces were reported to have thwarted a suspected stabbing attack at Tapuah Junction, a major intersection located south of Nablus in the West Bank.
On Friday, police arrested a Palestinian man who they said had a knife in his pocket and was following worshippers in a suspicious manner in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Civilians have also intervened to stop attacks. Last week, a Palestinian man who repeatedly stabbed a fellow bus passenger with a screwdriver was neutralized by an Israeli news photographer who was driving nearby.