Itongadol.- The head of Hamas in the West Bank since 2010 was recently arrested and was indicted on Thursday in the IDF West Bank Courts for organizing possibly dozens of terror cells for a wave of potential kidnappings, suicide bus bombings and attacks on settlements.
Arrested on May 27 prior to Operation Brothers\’ Keeper, Riad Natzer, is accused of raising over NIS 1.5 million for terror operations, buying weapons for his operatives and organizing them into cells – each trained for a different kind of terror activity.
The arrest and case were all under gag order until it was removed Thursday with the filing of the indictment.
As part of Natzer\’s alleged plans, weapons were concealed in designated spots throughout the West Bank, with instructions being passed on to other operatives who would use the weapons, all to await a day in which Natzer activated the operatives to carry out their attacks.
Natzer had been in jail and was allegedly brought into his West Bank role by his co-prisoner Salah Aruri to direct Hamas\’s efforts to recreate its terror infrastructure in the West Bank.
Originally, Natzer was allegedly to split the powers of running Hamas\’s military operations with one other Hamas leader, with one of them focused on raising funds and one on gathering weapons.
But when the other leader was arrested, Nazter allegedly completely took over operations.
Known for allegedly running Hamas\’s terror operations "with lust" for his job, Natzer recruited dozens of operatives and Natzer\’s arrest also led to the arrests of dozens of those operatives.