Jenin Raid and Settler Roadblocks Put Civilians at Risk

Israeli commandos detained an unnamed Palestinian in Jenin on Thursday morning. That night, settlers trying to block Palestinian motorists disrupted traffic near Ateret. The military described the detainee as an alleged arms dealer linked to a former network; its account says a Palestinian driver trying to flee struck a settler, who was lightly injured. In both episodes, armed authorities and settlers shaped what civilians could do and where they could move.

A military account, an unnamed detainee

Troops from the Duvdevan Commando Unit carried out the Jenin operation using intelligence from the Shin Bet, according to the military. They detained a Palestinian whose name wasn’t released. The IDF called him “a member of a former terror network in the area” and said, “The terrorist served as a key weapons dealer and acted to procure and transfer weapons to the terror network.” Those remain the military’s allegations; the article gives no response from the detainee or further details about the evidence.

The raid put intelligence agencies and commandos at the center of an operation against a person whose identity remains undisclosed. The military has offered its description of the man and his alleged role. Its account doesn’t say whether troops recovered weapons or what legal process followed the detention.

Roadblocks, pursuit and a car fire

Near the West Bank settlement of Ateret on Thursday night, Israeli security officials assessed a car-ramming incident as a hit-and-run, not a terror attack. An IDF preliminary investigation said settlers from an illegal outpost disrupted traffic as they tried to block Palestinian motorists. A Palestinian driver trying to escape the roadblock hit one of the settlers, who went to hospital in light-to-moderate condition.

“The forces launched a pursuit after the suspect and are establishing roadblocks in the area,” the military said. The sequence matters: settlers blocked traffic, a driver tried to get away, and military forces then pursued the suspect and set up further roadblocks. The injured settler was a civilian. The account doesn’t give the driver’s identity or whereabouts.

Palestinian media outlets separately reported that extremist settlers set fire to a Palestinian car parked near a house in as-Samu, in the South Hebron Hills, on Thursday. No one reported injuries. The report gives no further details about those responsible or any investigation.

The numbers behind the incidents

Violence in the West Bank has risen since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023. The PA health ministry says Israeli forces or settlers have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began. The IDF says the vast majority were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or people it calls terrorists carrying out attacks. These figures and competing descriptions come from sources with different accounts of those deaths.

During the same period, 67 civilians and Israeli security personnel were killed in attacks in Israel and the West Bank, while eight other security force members died in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank. The figures include casualties from attacks and clashes; they don’t erase the different circumstances described in the article.

The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025, up from 682 in 2024. Critics accuse the government of condoning and encouraging the violence, which has displaced dozens of Palestinian families. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers have regularly called it a marginal concern and said nearly all incidents involve a few hundred wayward youths. The official language narrows the issue to a small group. The IDF recorded 867 incidents in 2025.