Building in construction in Jenin. Photo: Guillaume Paumier.

After a counter-terrorism raid on Sunday at the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli security experts said Jenin “is now the focal point of terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria,” Israel’s Ma’ariv reported on Sunday.

Such cities as Hebron and Nablus once boasted the nefarious title of “terror capital.” However, over the last several months Jenin has became a hub for the planning and execution of terrorism.

In September 2013, a member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization was killed in Jenin by Israeli forces. The incident was similar to the one that took place this week, in which the Israeli Defense Forces killed three terrorists. In December, another Islamic Jihad fighter was killed in the same refugee camp while in the act of planning a homicide attack against Israelis, Ma’ariv said.

While Israeli security forces regularly conduct raids and detentions of terror suspects across Judea and Samaria without incident, IDF soldiers in the act of making arrests in Jenin are routinely shot and have Molotov Cocktails hurled at them, Ma’ariv reported.

A senior Israeli security official said that Jenin is “among our most significant challenges.”

Besides Islamic Jihad, the IDF contends that another local terrorist group is seeking to establish a foothold inside Jenin, Ma’ariv reported.

“We know that Hamas is planning attacks in Judea and Samaria, and here [Jenin] is one of the key places that they [Hamas] are focusing on,” an Israeli security official said.