The Shin Bet security service said Thursday that a Hamas cell believed to have been planning terror attacks, was arrested in Jerusalem last month during a joint operation with Israel Police. Details of the arrests had previously been subject to a gag order.
The five-strong cell, whose members are all residents of the Zur Bahar village in East Jerusalem, has allegedly been active since Cast Lead, the Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza Strip during the winter of 2008-2009.
The group is said to have acquired weapons with the assistance of Hamas, in an effort to sponsor terror activities.
One of the group members was arrested in February, prompting another member to attempt to dispose a bomb they had created for a planned bombing in the contested Jerusalem Gilo neighborhood.
According to a Shin Bet report, the cell was preparing to carry out a shooting attack similar to that which took place in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where 8 students were murdered.
For that purpose, the Shin Bet says, a known Gaza Hamas operative, transferred 10,000 Jordanian Dinar to cell member Jihad Atun through money exchangers in Jordan and Jerusalem, promising another 20,000 in a later date.
The cell members planned to use the funds to purchase an M-16 assault rifle as well as two pistols. At this point Atun was detained for investigation, with the rest of the cell arrested later on.
While cell members were investigated, the Shin Bet says, Mahmet Dawiyat, the brother of cell-member Ahmed Dawiyat, admitted to preparing a pipe bomb which he said was to be used in an attack on an attack on a bus stop in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.
Eventually, however, Dawiyat decided to discard the explosive device in Jerusalem’s Hebron road.
The trash bag containing the device was discovered in early March, when two municipal cleaning workers picked the bag up from a traffic Island on the Jerusalem road.
One of the workers was maimed, losing an arm, while the other was unharmed.
Munir Marwat Atun, brother of Jihad Atun and Mahmoud Atun, who is serving a life sentence for murdering three Isralis, including a policeman, is another member of the busted Hamas ring. Ahmed Namir, the fifth member of the cell, has already served jail-time for Hamas-related activities in 2006-2007.
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