Shin Bet security service officials dealing with the release of Hamas prisoners when Gilad Shalit was handed back to Israel in October 2011 were asked after the exchange who they thought would be the first to return to committing terror attacks. Their response was unequivocal: The group’s operatives from the Hebron area, Hamas’ most stubborn and determined cell.

Ever since the deal, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet have arrested dozens of released prisoners in the West Bank, including some Hamas men from the Hebron area. Over the past couple of years, there have been serious attacks in that region that were never solved, chief among them last October’s murder of Givati soldier Gal “Gavriel” Kobi and the murder of Israel Police Chief Supt. Baruch Mizrahi in April, on Passover eve.

The people behind those attacks were careful about two things – high-level performance and strict compartmentalization. Those who fired dozens of bullets at Mizrahi’s car as it made its way to Kiryat Arba prepared an escape route in advance and immediately went underground, where they’ve remained since. The kidnapping of the three teenagers in Gush Etzion last Thursday exhibits similar characteristics.

At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said what he’d only hinted at the night before – that Hamas is responsible for the kidnapping. He was basing his claim on intelligence data that had been collected on Saturday.

Read this article in full at Haaretz.