Israel raids homes of Islamic State suspects, arrests two

Law enforcement officials said 31 homes and sites were searched overnight in northern Israel

Israeli security services raided the homes of at least 12 Arab citizens and arrested two suspected of having ties to the Islamic State militant group in a crackdown sparked by recent deadly attacks, authorities said on March 29.

Hours before the raid, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the recent assaults inside Israel that left six people dead marked a “new situation” that required stepped-up security measures. Law enforcement officials said 31 homes and sites were searched overnight in northern Israel, an area that was home to the gunmen who killed two police officers and wounded four more people in the city of Hadera over the weekend.

The IS militant group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, as well as a stabbing rampage in southern Israel last Tuesday that killed four people. Police shot and killed the two gunmen, and the stabber was shot and killed by a passerby, police said. Israeli leaders, condemning the killings, pointed to the timing.

Both attacks came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Sunday's killings came on the eve of a high-profile meeting between the Foreign Ministers of four Arab nations and the U.S. in the Israeli Negev. All four Arab nations — Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE — along with the U.S., condemned the killings.

Ramadan is expected to begin on Saturday. Last year, clashes between Israeli police and Muslim protesters during the holy month boiled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Hamas praised the shooting as a “heroic operation”.

Attacks by IS inside Israel are rare. The group operates mainly in Iraq and Syria, where it has recently stepped up attacks against security forces. It no longer controls any territory but operates through sleeper cells.