IDF soldiers on an arrest raid in the West Bank. Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

The Shin Bet and the IDF caught the terrorists who killed yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman in a shooting attack this week with remarkable speed, due in part to new technology that Israel’s security forces have deployed to fight terrorism in the West Bank.

Over the last several years, the time necessary to detect, arrest, or assassinate terrorists has significantly shortened, Israeli news site Walla reported Sunday.

In part, this is because of the use of traditional methods such as interrogation of witnesses and human intelligence, but a major factor is the deployment of a network of various technological devices that can gather large amounts of real-time visual information.

This includes cameras and other scanning devices that have been set up throughout the West Bank, along with state-of-the-art facial recognition software and artificial intelligence that under the right circumstances can identify terrorists within minutes of an incident.

This information can be processed by computer systems, providing an analysis of the terrain, possible escape routes, and other information to aid swift pursuit and arrest.

It was this that allowed security services to locate and arrest the terrorists who killed Dimentman so quickly, even though one of the suspects had succeeded in fleeing a substantial distance from the scene of the shooting.

The IDF and the Shin Bet cooperate closely in these efforts — more than they have in the past — in order to pool intelligence and operate quickly. Under such circumstances, any mistake made by the terrorists can often lead investigators to them in a short time.