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Itongadol.- Security forces announced on Sunday the arrest of a Hamas cell in Kalkilya that had plotted a series of terrorist attacks in Israel. The cell was under the direct command of Hamas in Gaza, according to the Shin Bet.
The Hamas operatives received instructions to carry out Hamas attacks in the West Bank during Operation Protective Edge last summer.
In a joint Shin Bet, IDF, and Israel Police operation, authorities seized dozens of kilograms of sulfur and 25 kilograms of a type of Mercury used to make bombs.
The Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency said in a statement that members of the cell confessed to being recruited to the cell in Jordan. Hamas\’s headquarters in Jordan too part in building the cell, whose member traveled to the Gaza Strip to undergo military training.
They then headed to the West Bank to begin carrying out attacks, and recruit additional cell members.
"During questioning, it emerged that the operatives used an apartment in central Nablus, where they set up a bomb making lab that included raw material and means to create explosives.
The Shin Bet named six suspects, including Abdullah Zitawi, born in 1989, and a resident of Jamain, Wallid Abu Zina, born in 1989, and Raja Sabra, born in 1993, a resident of Brukin, and a student at Al-Najah university in Nablus.
The intelligence agency said the recent arrests show the high motivation Hamas bases abroad have in training military cells and inserting them into Judea and Samaria for attacks.
It also sheds light on the ability of Hamas operatives in Gaza and Jordan to orchestrate attacks in Judea and Samaria, the Shin Bet said.
In November, the Shin Bet and IDF said they thwarted a large-scale, transnational Hamas terrorism network that was preparing to carry out an array of deadly attacks against Israelis.
During that investigation, some 30 Hamas members were arrested in raids led by the undercover Duvdevan IDF unit.
The terror network planned to target the landmark Teddy soccer stadium in Jerusalem, the capital\’s light rail system, car bombings, and kidnappings of Israelis in the West Bank and overseas, the Shin Bet said.
The nerve center of the network was situated in Hamas\’s headquarters in Turkey, the Shin Bet added. Additional intended targets included infiltrations into Israeli communities, shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli traffic and military targets in the West Bank, and setting up terrorist cells in Jordan in order to carry out cross-border attacks into Israel.
In August, the Shin Bet said a large-scale Hamas terrorist formation in the West Bank and Jerusalem planned to destabilize the region through a series of deadly terror attacks in Israel and then topple the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority.
The plot was orchestrated by the Hamas overseas headquarters located in Turkey, and centered on a string of mass casualty terror attacks on Israeli targets, the Shin Bet added.