7/1/2025–|Last updated: 1/7/202501:33 PM (Mecca time)
In terms of time, place, geography of the region, and its security nature, both militarily and settlement-wise, the attack by Palestinian resistance fighters on an Israeli bus in the village of Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya, or what the occupation called “the Kedumim settlement operation,” appeared to be a major breakthrough in the security equation imposed by the Israeli army in the northern West Bank, and more severely. In that area full of settlements.
At nine in the morning yesterday, Monday, three Palestinian resistance fighters, including two known to the Israeli Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), according to the occupation’s statement, attacked a bus and vehicles carrying Israelis at the entrance to the village of Al-Funduq and in two separate locations on the main road (Street 55) linking the cities of Nablus and Qalqilya. .
The operation, which was carried out near the Kedumim settlement (named after the neighboring village of Kafr Qaddum), resulted in the killing of 3 Israelis and the wounding of 7 others, including serious injuries.
Israeli alert
Minutes after the operation took place, the occupation forces rushed to cordon off the area and began pursuing the perpetrators by land and air. They set up dozens of mobile checkpoints and closed the fixed checkpoints surrounding the place, especially the eastern area of Qalqilya.
It also closed all checkpoints leading to Nablus and tightened its military measures against it, disrupting the movement of thousands of Palestinians, preventing their movement between their cities and villages, and detaining many of them, especially university students.
The settlers rushed to attack the Palestinians, setting up ambushes on public roads, attacking citizens’ vehicles, and throwing stones at them. They also attacked Palestinian villages east of Qalqilya and south of Nablus, assaulting their residents and burning their property. They gathered gatherings at road intersections and launched marches from nearby settlements towards the site of the operation.
Leaders of the occupation army and settlers flocked to the site of the operation, especially Yossi Dagan, head of the Northern West Bank Settlements Council, who threatened more military measures and incited against the Palestinian Authority.
On the X platform, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the “Kedumim” settlement near the site of the operation, wrote: “Terrorism in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and terrorism from Gaza and Iran are the same and must be defeated. Whoever trusts the Palestinian Authority to preserve the safety of the citizens of Israel wakes up by killing residents.” Judea, the hotel, Nablus and Jenin must appear like Jabalia so that Kfar Saba does not become like Kfar Azza.”
As for Dagan, he told Israeli media from the site of the operation, “If the checkpoints had been closed and there had been an examination of whoever left Nablus, the operation would not have taken place,” and he called on the Israeli government and army to “start confiscating weapons and fighting Abu Mazen, who allows such events. We demand security.”
While Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said, “Whoever follows the path of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza and sponsors the killing and harming of Jews will pay heavy prices, and we will not accept the reality of Gaza in Judea and Samaria.”
Great effect
The “Kedumim settlement operation” is not the first guerrilla operation carried out by the Palestinians, but it was distinguished by its great impact, mechanism of preparation, implementation, and success by withdrawing from the site known for its security immunity and its connection to the settlements, especially “Kernei Shomron” and “Kedumim.”
He attributes the researcher to Israeli affairs Yasser Manna,”The success of the operation was due to many factors, the most important of which is that the region – and by virtue of its use by the Palestinian and Israeli sides – witnesses constant direct friction between them, which makes it an open theater for any surprise attack, and that the open geographical nature and population overlap give this region strategic importance.
Also, according to Israeli media reports, the perpetrators succeeded in reaching the location in complete secrecy, which reflects careful planning, highlights an intelligence deficiency despite the tight security measures in the region, and confirms the limited Israeli ability to monitor all movements in light of the complexities of the field situation.
Manna believes that the timing of the operation also poses a direct challenge to Israeli security measures, as it occurred at the peak of large-scale security, including erecting barriers and launching arrest campaigns and raids, and that its implementation means the failure of all those measures that may have increased the motivation to carry out such operations.
He expected that the Israeli reactions would go beyond punitive measures, from closing roads and isolating cities and villages, to intensifying arrest campaigns and escalating persecutions, “especially of the perpetrators and those who support them.”
Confusion and failure
In turn, political analyst Suleiman Bisharat believes that the operation posed a major challenge to the complex security and intelligence system of the region, whether with the digital surveillance and reconnaissance it witnesses or the actual presence of the Israeli army through its military checkpoints and continuous patrols.
It also demonstrated a challenge to the geographical environment, as about 20 settlements and settlement outposts spread between the cities of Nablus and Qalqilya, in addition to their direct effects and results and the results they will cause in the internal Israeli dimension.
The hasty positions of Israeli leaders at all levels – according to Bisharat – indicate the scale and nature of the confusion that has befallen this system, especially since the West Bank is a constant target of the occupation and its ongoing military and security operations, including the “break the waves,” “mowing the grass,” and “the House” campaigns. “, “The Garden”, and “All of them failed in this process.”
Israel will not go further with its punitive measures, as Bisharat told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, than what it is doing now of arrests, demolition, killing and closure, “which confirms that it has lost its ability to threaten and deter, and has turned to the equation of dealing and dealing with reactions to the resistance operations taking place in the West Bank.” “.
According to him, Israel will hold the Palestinian Authority directly responsible for this operation, even though it took place in areas under its full control. It has informed – according to Channel 14 – the Authority that it will resume its activities in Jenin and will escalate the arrests and targeting of people and institutions, and will unleash the settlers to go further.
Other experts said that the occupation’s failure to confront the Kedumim settlement operation will lead to more operations and that “the Palestinian struggle and struggle will escalate further unless the Israelis accept a settlement with the Palestinians and reduce their oppression of them.”
48 Israelis were killed and more than 380 others were injured, according to the Palestine Information Center (given), through hundreds of specific and popular resistance operations in the West Bank during the year 2024.