RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION: IDF security force consisting of reserve soldiers, along with the Shin Bet and Magav Border Police uncovered a Hamas terror cell centered in Abbas’ Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Shechem (Nablus) and arrested the cell’s members at the end of April.
– WATCH IDF video of arrest & detonation of captured explosives.

By David Rosenberg

A massive terror cell organized by the Hamas terrorist organization planned a series of suicide bombings and other terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces, the Shin Bet internal security agency revealed on Sunday.

According to the report Sunday, the terror cell began operation in October of last year, and included roughly two dozen terrorists, nearly all of them members of the Gaza-based Hamas terror organization. Many of the members of the terror cell were known for past involvement in terrorist operations, including the manufacture of explosive devices.

The cell was centered in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Shechem (Nablus) in central Samaria.

Israeli security forces discovered the terror cell and arrested its members at the end of April.

The suspects were transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation.

During questioning, the terrorists revealed that the cell had planned a series of major terror attacks across Israel. Among the attacks planned by the cell were suicide bombings in Jerusalem, bombings in Tel Aviv, and bombing and shooting attacks across Samaria, including inside the town of Itamar.

Some of the attacks were planned for the near future, investigators say, and were averted only by the quick arrest of the cell’s members.

Security forces seized a number of explosive devices, including some containing as much as 33 pounds of high-yield explosive material, as well as firearms and material for producing improvised explosive devices.

“This discovery shows once again the desire, efforts, and investment of the Hamas terror group to create terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria, with the goal of preparing for serious terror attacks against Israel,” one Shin Bet senior official said.

View original Arutz Sheva publication at:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/247576