Conflict is once again brewing between Israel and Palestine's Hamas militant group after Israel forces arrested over 50 members of a Hamas terror cell. The Hamas group planned attacks against Israel after dozens of their members were arrested in the West Bank, where several of Israel's forced combined to confiscate funds, ammunitions, weapons, and raw materials for suicide bomb belts.
Israel's Shin Bet international security agency, the IDF and Israel Police worked together for the operation that arrested several Hamas members and confiscated their terror paraphernalia.
According to the Christian Headlines, Emanuel Fabian, who works as the Times of Israel's breaking news editor, took to Twitter to share footage of Israeli military detonating the Hamas terror cell's explosives in a controlled setting after they confiscated the materials. An unnamed senior Shin Bet official said that the recent arrests were "essential" in preventing future attacks against Israel.
"This is an extensive and significant pre-emptive thwarting of a dangerous terrorist infrastructure, which had planned a series of attacks," the senior official said in a statement, as reported by CBN News. According to the security agency, the Hamas terror cell was being led and financed by the militant group's Deputy Chairman Saleh Arouri and Zacharia Najib.
A Shin Bet press release revealed that Hamas operatives inside and outside of Gaza "continue their incessant efforts to recruit residents from Judea and Samaria for terrorist activities" and that their efforts include "an ongoing flow of funding for diversified terrorist operations."
The Hamas leader, Najib was one of more than a thousand Palestinian terrorists who were freed from prison during the 2011 "Shalit deal," which gave their freedom in exchange for the life of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was taken by Hamas terrorists in 2006 near the Gaza border. Najib and Arouri both live in Turkey and maintain close ties with the Hamas militant group to this day.
A senior Shin Bet official added, "The purpose of the intensified terrorist activity of Hamas operatives abroad and in Gaza, through operatives in the Judea and Samaria, is to undermine stability in the area, while exacting a heavy price from local residents."
On Sunday, Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces eliminated a Palestinian man after he attacked an Israeli and wounded three other people in a shooting and stabbing attack in the Old City, at the Bab al-Silsila to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in occupied East Jerusalem. The attack occurred at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Authorities identified the Palestinian as Fadi Mahmoud Abu Shkheidem, a 42 year old who lived in Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp and used a submachine gun and knife for the attack. The Hamas militant group confirmed that Abu Shkheidem was linked to them. His victim, a 30 year old Israeli man, suffered a head injury and later died after being rushed to the hospital. Another victim, a 46 year old Israeli was in stable condition, while two police officers were mildly wounded.
