IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth has ordered troops to stop notifying Palestinian Authority security forces before entering villages in Judea and Samaria for arrest operations, weapons searches and sweeps, Makor Rishon reported.
The decision followed concerns raised in the field that advance notice given to PA security officials was being passed on to terrorists, who used it to escape arrest and hide weapons stockpiles.
Since the coordination was halted, the IDF has seen a marked rise in the amount of weapons seized during operations, according to military sources cited in the report. The data indicate that terrorists had been exploiting the advance warnings to prepare and conceal their weapons.
According to Makor Rishon, senior Central Command officials said the move followed a claim recently raised by right-wing activist Elisha Yered of Ramat Migron. Yered said that while driving on Route 60 near the village of Deir Dibwan, he saw military vehicles and troops preparing to enter villages in the area. A notice had appeared on an Arab Telegram channel about ten minutes earlier, he said, already detailing the troops’ route before they entered. Yered argued this showed the information had come from advance intelligence rather than from people watching the forces move.
The notifications were passed to the PA under a coordination protocol used before IDF presence patrols in Palestinian villages. Arutz Sheva had previously reported that details of planned IDF operations were reaching terrorists through this mechanism, with information appearing within minutes on Arabic-language Telegram channels that track IDF movements.
The decision reflects growing distrust of the PA’s security services, which Israeli officials have long suspected of passing intelligence to terrorist groups.
