Fifteen terrorists released in the Shalit deal last year have since been rearrested, according to a senior IDF source in the Judea and Samaria Division quoted by the IDF Website.

The unnamed military source said that the concerns that releasing a large number of hardened terrorists into Judea and Samaria would cause a spike in terror have proved unfounded.

“Hundreds of terrorists released in the deal who returned to Judea and Samaria have not created a game changing situation on the ground,” the source said. “It is true that they were all received as national heroes, but here things are much more under control, and there is a good intelligence grip on them.”

In response to concerns that Hamas would be strengthened by the deal, the IDF has ambivalent data.

On the one hand, only about 13% of the suspects arrested for terror activity in Judea and Samaria in the first half of 2012 were members of Hamas. Over 50% were arrested for what is known as “popular terror,” i.e. actions such as throwing rocks and fire bombs.

On the other hand, Hamas has grown “meaningfully stronger” over the past year, according to the source quoted by the IDF Website, but the terror group has invested most of its energy in educational and social activity aimed at bringing the populace closer to its jihadist ideology. The source admits that this ideological indoctrination “could explode” in the form of terror acts in the future.