Senior Israeli officials on Tuesday convened a special discussion on a record number of Palestinian terror alerts in Israel ahead of the Jewish High Holy Days.
Defense officials presented Prime Minister Yair Lapid with some 70 concrete warnings about imminent attacks during the holiday season.
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Israeli forces arrest of terror suspects and seize weapons in the West Bank
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
"This is a symbolic period during which terrorist organizations are naturally looking to carry out showcase attacks," a senior police official told Ynet on condition of anonymity.
A senior defense official added that security forces will continue making preemptive arrests of terror suspects throughout the holiday season as opposed to previous years in which Israel tried to keep tensions on the ground in check.
Officials explained due to the volatile nature of this time of year, Israel cannot afford itself the privilege of growing complacent vis-à-vis counterterrorist activity.
The police are planning a record deployment of about 20,000 police officers who will be stationed all over the country, with a focus on Jerusalem and the West Bank. The alert level during the holidays is expected to rise to the penultimate threat level.
First responders treat Israeli seriously wounded after being attack by Palestinian in southern West Bank
(Video: Regional Council Mount Hebron)
Nine terrorist attacks were recorded throughout the West Bank in recent weeks, with several more close calls being thwarted by Israeli forces. This spike in terrorist activity has spurred fears of a new Intifada, or a major Palestinian uprising.
Last Friday, a 19-year-old IDF soldier was moderately wounded in a terror attack close to the West Bank urban settlement Kiryat Arba. This is on top of last Sunday's shooting attack on a bus carrying soldiers in the Jordan Valley. Two people were severely wounded and several more sustained moderate or mild injuries.
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Israeli forces arrest terror suspect in Tel Aviv carrying Carlo Gustaf submachine gun
(Photo: Israel Police)
Later that day, four soldiers were wounded in another shooting close to their guard post in the West Bank.
Dozens of suspects have been arrested in recent weeks as the IDF continued its crackdown on Palestinian terrorist activity across the West Bank.
According to security officials, more than 240 significant terror attacks have been thwarted since the beginning of the year, including shootings, suicide bombings, bomb attacks and kidnappings.