YERUSHALAYIM — Senior Israeli officials on Tuesday convened a special discussion on a record number of Palestinian terror alerts ahead of the Yamim Tovim in Tishrei.
Defense officials presented Prime Minister Yair Lapid with some 70 concrete warnings about imminent attacks during the Yom Tov season.
“This is a symbolic period during which terrorist organizations are naturally looking to carry out showcase attacks,” a senior police official told Yediot.
A senior defense official added that security forces will continue making preemptive arrests of terror suspects throughout the Yom Tov season as opposed to previous years in which Israel tried to keep tensions on the ground in check.
Officials explained that 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 Yerushalayim and Yehudah and Shomron. The alert level during the holidays is expected to rise to the penultimate threat level.
Nine terrorist attacks were recorded throughout Yehudah and Shomron 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.
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.
Source: Hamodia