The Shin Bet Israel’s internal intelligence agency has claimed its arrest of 20 members of a new Hamas-affiliated cell in Nablus where they were planning to launch attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem the West Bank and Haifa.
According to different Israeli news websites the Shin Bet arrested members of the cell in a months-long “sting operation” around an area in Nablus.
The group was allegedly planning to carry out bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis. Most of the detainees have served time in the past in Israeli jails.
A senior Shin Bet official said his agency’s investigation revealed that the cell was hierarchical and well-organized and would have carried out major attacks if its plans had not been foiled by a joint effort by the Shin Bet the police and the army.
This was not the first time the Shin Bet announced its capture of a West Bank-based resistance cell from Hamas planning to carry out attacks in retaliation to crimes and violations committed by the Israeli authorities and Jewish settlers against the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
