Amid the IDF’s ongoing strain in Gaza and Lebanon, senior General Staff officials say that the most immediate threat may be in the heart of the country, where a breached seam zone and hundreds of drones could turn the area into the next October 7.
"I am not prepared to manage risks here," Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned, as the IDF intensifies a quiet campaign aimed at preventing the next explosion.
Some 600 kilometers separate the nightmare scenario of October 7 from the reality in the West Bank.
The seam zone, the area of the West Bank between the Green Line and Israel's separation barrier, stretches from the Gilboa to Arad, shifting between torn fences and completely open terrain.
As the IDF marks 1,000 days since the October 7 massacre, IDF officials say that the most sensitive arena is not Gaza or Lebanon, it is in the heart of the country, and the threat is more tangible than ever.
The IDF is reinforcing the seam zone
In recent days, new orders were sent to the field, a special reinforcement of troops along the seam zone and on main routes.
The commanders of the regional brigades in the West Bank Division, under the command of Brig. Gen. Kobi Heller, are training, both in planning rooms and in the field, for a scenario involving a terrorist raid or a Palestinian mob storming Israeli communities. One officer in the Central Command described it as a "reasonable possible course of action."
The security burden on the IDF, and its responsibility for defense, has grown after a government decision established another 103 new settlements, a number which does not include dozens of individual farms or illegal outposts, which pose significant challenges for IDF forces and could increase further.
Beneath the surface in the West Bank, the quiet is a dangerous illusion. In the Central Command, no one is closing their eyes. For them, the division is sitting on a powder keg waiting for a spark.
IDF increasing operations in the West Bank
To prevent the next explosion, the IDF is conducting a quiet, daily, intensive campaign in the West Bank around the clock, including in the most violent areas.
At times, that requires covert operations. At other times, it requires loud and aggressive action. More than 12,000 offensive raids have been carried out since the beginning of 2026, keeping the area constantly tense.
The numbers tell the story of terrorist organizations’ efforts to extend their reach into the area. Some 1,950 wanted suspects have been transferred to Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) interrogation rooms, from senior planners and operatives to young Palestinians searching for the next firebomb.
But the most troubling figure is found in the weapons caches the IDF has been emptying: hundreds of standard weapons, from M-16 rifles to hunting rifles, as well as more than 400 drones that were seized before they could become deadly tools.
The seizures expose a well-oiled black market.
As part of the campaign to dry up what commanders describe as a boiling swamp, forces are not only arresting wanted suspects, but dismantling the infrastructure itself. Forty workshops used to manufacture weapons have been destroyed this year, and NIS 4.5 million, money used to fuel terrorist attacks, has been confiscated before reaching the wrong hands.
In the Central Command, the lesson is clear: As long as these machines continue operating, the distance between another thwarted attack and an event that changes the course of the campaign can be measured in minutes.