Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police find, expose and arrest terror cell financed and dictated by Hamas in the Strip; Netanyahu: Our enemies should know that our long arm will reach whoever tries to attack us; IDF: Jerusalem is a city sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Hamas terrorists had a bomb ready, planning to carry out an attack on this Holy City.
The Shin Bet (ISA), Israel’s internal security agency, thwarted a ring of terror attacks in Jerusalem planned for both Palestinian Authority (PA) targets and Israelis by a Hamas terror cell. It confirmed the operation was carried out in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Police on Tuesday.
Several arrests were made after security forces located an explosives lab in Hebron as well as a bomb. The cell had planned an array of attacks, including the use of weapons like guns, knives, and explosives. The cell was created and operated directly by Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, the governing terror organization of the Gaza Strip, for years has been plotting and organizing terror attacks and operatives in the West Bank and abroad. Hamas has trained militants and operatives in Turkey and Jordan and has even succeeded in carrying out attacks, mainly stabbings, in Jerusalem. Each weekend, Hamas organizes violent protests and terror attacks on Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. It deploys militants and uses human shields, many of them children, and sends explosive and arson kites and balloons over the border. Thousands of acres of Israeli farmland and parks, as well as private property, have been destroyed due to fires.
The IDF Spokespersons Unit took to Twitter to confirm the operation, as well as published video footage of some of the arrests made. It stated, “Jerusalem is a city sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Hamas terrorists had a bomb ready, planning to carry out an attack on this Holy City. Together with the Israel Security Agency, we foiled the attack and arrested the terrorists.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel’s security forces and their success in preventing major terror attacks on the nation’s capital. He stated on Tuesday following media reports on the operation, “I commend the ISA, IDF and Israel Police forces for the operational-intelligence effort that led to the thwarting of a terrorist attack that Hamas planned to carry out on our territory. Our enemies should know that our long arm will reach whoever tries to attack us.”
