Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir held an urgent situation assessment Friday with senior defense officials following the attack. During the briefing, the chief of staff revealed disturbing details about the terrorists' plan. "This was a severe attack. The swift action of the soldiers prevented an even more serious attack and further harm to civilians and security forces," Zamir said.
According to the assessments presented, the two terrorists left Chevron with large quantities of ammunition in their vehicle, intending to carry out a major attack. The terrorists were armed with an M4 automatic rifle and a handgun, and a vest loaded with additional ammunition was found in the vehicle. They had planned to drive onto Route 35, which connects Chevron to the interior of the country, but were stopped at a temporary checkpoint set up by IDF Home Front Command forces in the Tzomet Yehuda area.
Following the attack, IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police forces launched an operation to thwart terror in the Chevron area. According to a joint statement from the IDF and Shin Bet spokespersons, forces began a focused and thorough sweep of all infrastructure in the area to locate and neutralize terror infrastructure and combat equipment. The operation is focused and confined to the area from which the terrorists operated and is expected to continue for several days.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu arrived in Chevron on Friday and announced the implementation of a new offensive model in the neighborhoods from which the terrorists came. "We are going to implement the successful and aggressive model that we used in the refugee camps, which are essentially terror fortresses," Netanyahu explained. According to him, "This is exactly what will be done here inside a Chevron neighborhood from which the terrorists came. We will evacuate the residents, we will go house by house, we will also remove the weapons there, and all the terror infrastructure will be dealt with and destroyed."
