One leg in chains: Rahat man freed during West Bank weapons sweep

One leg in chains. That is how police found a man in his home in Rahat over the weekend, a discovery made during an operation intended to locate illegal weapons in the city. Officers freed the man, whose ankle was shackled to the floor, and began investigating how he came to be confined in his own residence.

Preliminary findings suggest the man was chained by his own family members. Police said the confinement was allegedly linked to his drug use. The man’s brother, also a resident of Rahat, was arrested shortly after his brother was released and taken to the local police station for questioning.

This incident occurred alongside a series of security actions across the West Bank and central Israel. On Monday, police announced they had found the body of an Israeli resident of east Jerusalem in his 40s in the Wadi Rahal area near Bethlehem. Forensic investigators and IDF soldiers collected evidence at the scene. The body is expected to go to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, where authorities plan to determine the cause of death. Police stated that initial findings indicate a criminal nature for the death, rather than a terror motive.

Separate raids on Sunday night in Bethlehem resulted in three arrests. Security forces acted on intelligence to search the home of a Palestinian resident allegedly affiliated with Hamas. Officers also searched the home of another resident suspected of possessing weapons. During these searches, forces confiscated a loaded hunting rifle, IDF uniforms, and various technological items. The two suspects were taken to the Ma'ale Adumim police station and accused of carrying illegal weapons and possessing military equipment without authorization.

Near Hebron, police arrested a man in his 30s who was found with a hunting rifle and a large amount of ammunition. In Kalansuwa, a majority-Arab city in central Israel, officers found a large cache of weapons stolen from the IDF. The haul included a Kalashnikov rifle, three M-16 assault rifles, eight handguns, six fragmentation grenades, two stun grenades, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and three tactical vests. A police explosives expert handled the grenades at the scene.

Two family members present during the Kalansuwa raid were arrested and taken in for questioning. Police submitted all seized weaponry as potential evidence. The investigation into the Kalansuwa weapons cache is ongoing as of press time.