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Israeli forces crack down on Palestinian weapons trafficking ring

Xinhua, August 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli security forces arrested two Palestinians for weapons trafficking, uncovered weapon factories and recovered firearms in the largest operation against weapon trafficking this year, the Israeli army said.

"Overnight the IDF conducted a large scale mission in the Judea and Samaria (Jewish biblical names for the West Bank) Division to locate and dismantle an illegal manufacturing and trafficking network in the region," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the Israeli military, forces arrested two Palestinian suspected of trafficking weapons. They also uncovered seven weapon factories, in which they found 22 weapon manufacturing machines and dozens of firearms, in the areas of Bethlehem and Hebron in the West Bank.

Since the beginning of 2016, Israeli security forces have operated against weapons manufacturers and smugglers throughout the West Bank.

According to the Israeli army, forces uncovered over the past eight months 29 factories, seized 49 weapon manufacturing machines and over 300 firearms, and arrested 140 Palestinians suspected of trafficking and manufacturing weapons.

Israeli security forces have been operating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem territories extensively in the past year, amid a wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians which started in October 2015, and claimed the lives of 34 Israelis and 220 Palestinians.

Israel accuses the Palestinian Authority of incitement to violence amid the wave of unrest, whereas the Palestinians charge it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, where they wish to establish their own state. Endit