by Yonah Jeremy Bob
A’s battalion was the one with “the most central role for penetrating the bank, seizing the terror funds and equipment, and arresting the Hamas-affiliated individuals close up,” he told the Post.
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Anywhere there is terror financing in the West Bank, the IDF will seize it, even if it is in the Palestinian Authority’s capital, Ramallah, Lt.-Col. A, the IDF’s 668th Ram Battalion commander, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview just after his unit busted Hamas’s last banks in Ramallah on Wednesday.
Pressed on whether he was concerned about entering the PA’s capital, where the IDF operates much less frequently, he responded, “If there is terror financing, I will get there. There is no hesitation.”
A’s battalion was the one with “the most central role for penetrating the bank, seizing the terror funds and equipment, and arresting the Hamas-affiliated individuals close up,” he told the Post.
Other battalions that were part of the brigade-level operation maintained external security around the bank to allow A’s unit to accomplish its mission, he said, giving the other units credit.
Describing the operation, A said, “We entered Ramallah in one of its central and most well-known public plazas in order to seize the remaining sources of Hamas’s terrorist funds from two bank branches.”
While the IDF noted five individuals were arrested, A alluded to there being additional arrests.
He stated that his forces were in Ramallah for the operation for only a few hours.
According to A, he and his forces, along with related ones, had prepared and rehearsed aspects of the operation for several days before carrying it out.
While such operation rehearsals occur with special forces on targeted missions, it is a sign of how complex and unique the mission was that regular infantry were involved in such extensive preparations.
The multiple battalions “invaded that portion of Ramallah in a synchronized manner designed to surprise Hamas officials from multiple different vectors,” he detailed.
A said that “undercover Duvdevan special units entered the bank first to achieve the element of surprise, and were then followed by multiple other military battalions.”
There were also Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) specialists in various areas of intelligence and counterterrorism involved in the operation, he noted.
Public disorder during the operation
A recalled that “there was resistance and a small amount of rioting, but we largely had freedom of movement for our forces. We had a large volume of forces.”He described how surrounding IDF forces addressed the protests and rioting, opening “fire when allowed according to the rules, and when not allowed, using tear gas. But the public disorder did not impact the mission.”
The Israeli security forces providing a security perimeter around the banks “were ready, very ready with non-lethal measures like tear gas and other means. It’s hostile territory. You need to be ready for everything,” he added.A gave specific credit to the 810 Border Police Unit for supporting his battalion.
Despite the resistance outside the bank as the operation dragged on, “Inside the bank, there was essentially no resistance,” he said, partially because of the surprise achieved by the Duvdevan forces.
Palestinian reports alleged that several civilians who had not been involved in any rioting were wounded by the tear gas.
The IDF said on Wednesday that it was investigating those charges. It is unclear when the results of these probes will be publicized, and A did not appear to be involved, given that the Military Police and legal divisions carry out such investigations.
Questioned about whether any Israeli intelligence agencies warned the PA so that their forces would not get caught up in the operation, A said, “I don’t know if we warned the PA. Everyone does whatever their job is.”
He did not know why these two banks were busted now and a few months ago during a larger wave of Hamas bank crackdowns carried out by an entire division (many thousands vs a brigade, which tends to consist of 1,000 or fewer soldiers) of IDF forces. He said that the answer to that was above his pay grade.
However, other IDF sources suggested that the timing was related to when there was sufficient intelligence to justify the operation.
Another possibility is that top defense officials chose to handle Ramallah as a separate operation due to its high sensitivity, rather than simultaneously with a wide variety of other operations, which would have divided IDF commanders’ attention more.
“This is one of the biggest and most complex operations I have ever commanded, including the high volume of the forces involved,” A said. “The soldiers cooperated and performed extremely well together.”
Yonah Jeremy Bob
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-865498
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