In one of the largest raids since ‘Operation Brother’s Keeper’, Israel arrests included senior Hamas officials, who have already served sentences in Israeli prisons, but are now suspected of currently planning Hamas-funded terror attacks against Israel.
Twenty-nine suspected Hamas operatives were arrested in an overnight raid in the West Bank on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed.
The surprise operation was carried out jointly between the IDF, Border Police, Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police.
Those arrested, some of whom are senior Hamas officials who have served sentences in Israeli prisons in the past, were taken to Shin Bet facilities for investigation. The arrests were made following suspicions of Hamas-funded and directed plans to carry out terror attacks against Israel.
Palestinian security officials said Wednesday the suspects were nabbed in and near the city of Nablus.
Hamas spokesman Husam Badran says the arrests reflected Israeli concern over what he described as the “growing power of Hamas despite years of crackdown campaigns.”
Hamas rules the Gaza Strip and has a much smaller presence in the West Bank, which is run by its rival Fatah movement.
The IDF said on Wednesday that the raid was one of the largest scale operations in the area since Operation Brother’s Keeper this past summer.
It was presided over by GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Roni Numa and by the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Tamir Yadai.
View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=24847