The Israel Police said on Sunday that officers arrested a Palestinian man who was filmed last month spiriting a young girl over the West Bank security barrier using a rope.
The suspect, a 29-year-old from the West Bank town of A-Ram, was caught on video lifting the girl to the wall’s edge, then lowering her down on the other side with a rope.
He was arrested on suspicion of “smuggling infiltrators over the separation fence and abusing a helpless person,” police said.
The suspect was tracked down by Border Police forces with surveillance drones, police said, and was arrested at a shop in A-Ram, just north of Jerusalem.
He was undergoing interrogation at the Border Police headquarters in Jerusalem, police said.
Israel has heavily restricted the entry of West Bank Palestinians into the country since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel.
A Palestinian man suspected of spiriting a young girl over the West Bank security barrier is seen being arrested by Israeli police in footage released on January 4, 2026. (Israel Police)
Before October 7, Israel issued about 140,000 permits for Palestinians – both for work inside the Green Line and in Israeli settlements or industrial zones in the West Bank.
Today, 18,000 permits are granted for work in the West Bank, and only 8,600 permits remain valid for work inside Israel, according to the Defense Ministry unit that coordinates with Palestinians on civil affairs. Work inside the Green Line is limited to so-called essential sectors such as hospitality and caregiving, with the construction industry, which previously employed around 90 percent of Palestinians in Israel, excluded.
In practice, demand for Palestinian labor in the permitted fields is low, meaning just 6,200 Palestinians actually enter Israel legally each day, the ministry said.
The steep reduction in permits has led some who used to work in Israel with permits to begin entering illegally to make a living.
Like Palestinians looking for work, terror operatives have taken advantage of weak spots along the West Bank security barrier and crossed into Israel illegally to carry out attacks.
In September, six people were murdered and 12 were wounded by a pair of Palestinian terrorists who opened fire on vehicles and pedestrians at Jerusalem’s Ramot intersection.
The gunmen had reached the site of the attack from West Bank towns several kilometers away. As they were armed with a rifle and a pistol, it was unlikely they would have been able to enter Jerusalem via an army checkpoint.
Instead, investigators believe they climbed over the barrier near al-Ram and were then driven to the site of the attack.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 65 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF has recorded more than 752 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence since the start of the year. The total for 2024 was 675 incidents.
Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.
