The Nablus barbershop raid occurred in 2018 when operatives of Israel's Mista'arvim counter-terrorism unit raided a barbershop in the Old City of Nablus that served as the main base of operations for ISIL cell leader Abu Seif al-Makdasi.
Makdasi had arrived in Palestine earlier that same year after fighting alongside ISIL in the Syrian Civil War, intent on rejoining Hamas, building up a cell of jihadist students who took Hebrew classes at Birzeit University, and putting the Islamic State on the map in Palestine. His insistence on running his operation as he pleased resulted in Hamas' West Bank political leader Abu Samara and military leader Walid al-Abed cutting ties with him, but he stole money from his late father's associate Abu Karim to continue financing his operations. The death of his cell member Bilal Abu Hassan at an Israeli checkpoint alerted the Israelis to his growing cell of Hebrew-speaking jihadists and made his death or capture a priority. To this end, the Israelis captured al-Abed and tortured him into revealing Makdasi's hideout, a barbershop in the Old City of Nablus' Yasmini quarter. The Israelis then extrajudicially executed al-Abed and made it appear as if he was murdered by ISIL (marking his body with the word "traitor" and dumping it in the hills near Nablus), ending any chance of reconciliation between his cell and Abu Samara's larger organization. Abu Seif retaliated by finding the home of Mista'arvim operative Doron Kabilio's father Amos and beheading Amos for an ISIL propaganda video, his cell's first claimed attack.
While Doron was reluctant to take part in any more operations, his team leader Eli Daniel persuaded him to avenge his father by taking part in the barbershop raid. Undercover Israeli agents planted listening devices underneath one of the shop's stools, enabling them to determine the best time for the attack. When the time came, Sagi Amedi, Steve Pinto, Doron, and Nurit Shimon moved in. Amedi distracted a guard as Kabilio stabbed him in the back, while Pinto used a silenced pistol to kill another spotter. They then initiated their raid by tossing a grenade into the barbershop, initiating a shootout in which Pinto was critically wounded. Doron took Makdasi's brother Samir Awadalla as a human shield and threw him around a doorway for Abu Seif to shoot, aggrieving the ISIL cell leader. Abu Seif proceeded to flee through a backroom, and Commander Kinneret dispatched an evacuation team to rescue a wounded Pinto while Kabilio and Amedi gave chase to Makdasi through the alley and Shimon and Daniel gave chase on the street. A riot broke out as masked locals began to stone the Israelis, and they nearly gang-raped Shimon, while severely beating Daniel. IDF troops moved in to secure the area, while Makdasi escaped. The IDF rounded up several ISIL members, including Palestinian Preventive Security chief Abu Maher's son Maher Muhammad Imad Asheikh, a member of an ISIL sleeper cell.