New Delhi, September 7: Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare to target senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials if Israel determines that the PA or its affiliated bodies are planning an “October 7-style” attack on Israeli forces or Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
“If the security apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority and the bodies associated with them launch, or we know for certain that they are about to launch, an October 7-style terrorist attack against forces and Jewish settlements,” Katz said, Netanyahu and he had instructed the IDF to prepare for an “all-out war” against senior PA officials, its mechanisms and affiliated bodies, as well as terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.
Katz said the objective would be to bring about their “complete defeat” quickly. “We will not allow for a return of a reality of a continued intifada spanning years, as was the case in the past,” the defence minister said.
He added that Israel would instead launch a “comprehensive campaign” against the Palestinian Authority and terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank, including targeting senior officials, evacuating residents from cities and villages from which terrorist activity is carried out, eliminating terrorists and destroying terrorist infrastructure.
The statement came on Monday following a stabbing attack in the West Bank at Maoz Yehuda Farm near Kusra, which left one person moderately to seriously wounded.
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