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Shin Bet uncovers West Bank Hamas cell planning suicide bombings
The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, announced yesterday that it had arrested at least 25 members of a significant Hamas cell in the West Bank, which was actively planning suicide and car bombings inside Israel.
The arrests were made over the last few weeks, but were only announced yesterday. The ringleader was named as 24-year-old Ahmad Jamal Mousa Azzam from Kalkilya in the West Bank, who was recruited by Hamas operatives in Gaza. They instructed him how to make explosive vests, belts and other devices and to recruit other cell members.
Most of the cell studied alongside Azzam at the Abu Dis University near Jerusalem. They helped plan every detail of activity, including renting property, procuring explosive materials and transferring funds. Two of Azzam’s recruits were Arab citizens of Israel, whose freedom of movement was able to help the cell achieve its aims. One was named as 22-year-old Hazem Ziad Amran Sandouqa from Jerusalem’s Old City, who purchased materials and provided intelligence. The other, 19-year-old Bedouin citizen Fahdi Daoud Muhammad Abu Qaian agreed to carry out an attack.
A further Hamas cell in Bethlehem, also linked to Azzam and Abu Dis University was also discovered. It included three Palestinians aged 19 and 20, who had agreed to carry out suicide attacks in Israel.
During the investigation, the Shin Bet uncovered a makeshift explosives laboratory in an Abu Dis flat rented by Azzam. The Shin Bet said that it “was ready to manufacture explosives of different types, in significant quantities.”
The Shin Bet statement also said that “This episode uncovered and reiterates the involvement of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza and its consistent actions to orchestrate mass casualty terror attacks in Israel.” In addition, had the attacks been carried out, they would have caused a “significant escalation in the security situation.”
Meanwhile, early Wednesday, 17 Palestinians were arrested by the IDF in the West Bank suspected of violent acts during the current wave of attacks on Israelis.