A Hamas cell arrested by the Shin Bet planned to kidnap Likud MK Yehuda Glick and Israeli occupation army’s Arabic-language spokesman Maj. Avichay Adraee Israeli sources claimed.
According to Israel’s Ynet news website the indictments against cell leader Muad Ashtiyah 26 and Mahmoud Ramadan and Ahmed Ramadan both 19 allegedly revealed the three later changed their plans. To make it easier to carry out the attack they decided to try to kidnap an Israeli soldier or an Israeli settler instead.
Ashtiyah acquired weapons for the planned abduction and recruited the other two members. According to the indictment to kidnap Glick or Adraee “the defendant learned about them and gathered information on them using the internet.”
The Shin Bet said the members of the Hamas cell were in contact with Omar Assida a Hamas militant who is also responsible for the flow of resistance funds from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
The Hamas command in Gaza provided guidance and financing for the planned abduction the objective of which was to use the hostage to bargain for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
In its investigation the Shin Bet claimed the cell members conducted observations at major junctions main roads and bus stops in the area to gather intelligence for the planned attack. The cell leader also made inquiries about possible safe houses in the Nablus area to hide their hostage.
The Shin Bet said they seized weapons the cell members planned to use to carry out the kidnapping including a handgun an electric shocker and pepper spray.
