Israeli security forces arrested nine Palestinian terror suspects in a series of overnight raids as the IDF prepares Tuesday to impose a lockdown on the West Bank for Yom Kippur as tensions run high.
Thousands of IDF troops from 25 battalions will bolster the region during the holiday until the curfew is lifted at midnight Wednesday.
The soldiers will be deployed along the West Bank security barrier, and efforts will be focused on protecting nearby settlements and preventing infiltrations into Israeli territory.
In the past few days, there have been a large number of clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers, especially in the Nablus area, and the IDF is particularly concerned about losing control over the conflicts which could become a daily occurrence.
Footage that surfaced online shows students at a school in the village of Huwara fleeing from a soccer field, apparently due to clashes between settlers and Palestinians nearby.
Huwara
Meanwhile, Palestinians set tires on fire in response to protests by settlers near Beit Furik. IDF troops deployed riot control measures to break up the crowd.
Meanwhile, hundreds of residents from the settlements in the eastern region of the West Bank, including far-right lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich and other settler leaders, arrived at various entrances to Nablus for the second day in a row to protest against recent terror attacks.
Smotrich called for a military operation and said that "as settlers and public leaders we can't stand still. The escalation is dangerous and the government must order the IDF to embark on an extensive operation in Nablus and Jenin to uproot terrorist cells."
The settlers also protested outside the house of Defense Minister Benny Gantz, convened a press conference, and protested against the deterioration of the security situation in West Bank settlements.
Settlement leaders accused the government of not acting aggressively enough on the issue, adding that if such attempted and successful terror attacks were carried out in Tel Aviv, Israel would have declared a military operation long ago.