WATCH: Kever Yosef Renovated As IDF Snipers Crouch On Nearby Rooftops

Dozens of renovation experts under the direction of the Shomron Regional Council accompanied by a convoy of IDF vehicles secretly entered Kever Yosef in Shechem at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning and renovated the site.

The renovation of the site, necessitated by its wanton destruction on two occasions by Arabs earlier this week, was the first such operation in broad daylight since the site was abandoned to the Palestinian police on the orders of then-prime minister Ehud Barak in the wake of the second intifada in 2000.

According to a Haaretz report, IDF snipers on nearby rooftops secured the operation in addition to the IDF forces on the ground. Arabs threw rocks at the Israeli vehicles as they entered the site and clashes ensued between Arabs and IDF soldiers near the kever in the course of the operation.

Four teams of workers renovated the site, with experts in plastering, marblework, plumbing and electricity each lending their expertise, renovating the matzeivah that had been smashed and destroyed with new marble slabs, painting the walls that were discolored with soot due to the fire set by the rioters, repairing the damaged plumbing system and re-installing the electrical system. They also replaced the windows and removed debris and rubble from the site.

בכוחות גדולים וגלויים, לאור יום: צה"ל נכנס לשכם לצורך שיפוץ קבר יוסף, שהושחת בידי פלסטינים בתחילת השבוע. עכשיו בכאן11: דיווח מהמקום pic.twitter.com/3WHHxPfSOK

— Carmel Dangor כרמל דנגור (@carmeldangor) April 13, 2022

“We hope this is the last time we need to make these repairs,” one of them told a Mikor Rishon reporter.

לאחר שהושחת. צוותים של מועצה אזורית שומרון נכנסו תחת אבטחה כבדה של צהל לתוך מתחם קבר יוסף שבשכם pic.twitter.com/U5OE0uKFr7

— Elisha Ben Kimon אלישע בן קימון (@elishabenkimon) April 13, 2022

https://twitter.com/hodayakh/status/1514114344275038212?s=20&t=dvxWHhxsZkSUf4zdHABbvg

The head of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, said: “This is a historic day. We arrived here at dawn, and in broad daylight, just before Chag HaCheirus, to restore the national honor of the people of Israel and the honor of Yosef. The barbaric rioters from the Palestinian Authority well know why they burn and destroy the kever of Yosef HaTzaddik. They know that as long as Am Yisrael continues to frequent its mekomos hakedoshim and its national heritage sites, they cannot defeat us.”