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Senior Hamas leader arrested following West Bank terror threats

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The IDF announced this morning that it had arrested a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank for inciting terrorism. The arrest comes amid reports that Hamas is encouraging and planning large-scale attacks on Israelis, including shootings and suicide bombings.

Although Hamas has not coordinated the recent spate of terrorism, mainly stabbings which have killed nine Israelis, the group has enthusiastically welcomed the attacks. Ynet reports this morning that Hamas has instructed its activists to carry out suicide attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Orders were apparently given especially to Hamas members in the Hebron and Nablus areas, who have relatively easier access to Jerusalem than Hamas supporters elsewhere. The report says that should such an attack become operationally feasible, Hamas will attempt to carry it out.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip yesterday encouraged a “militarisation” of the current violence, which he referred to as an “intifada.” He said that the terror attack at Beer Sheva’s central bus station on Sunday evening was a “small scenario of how to liberate Palestine” and that if the attacker “had had weapons, he and some of his friends would have been able to liberate the entire area of Beersheba.” Zahar urged Palestinians to replace knives with guns and explosives.

This morning, the IDF said that it had apprehended Hassan Yousef near Ramallah, in a joint operation with the Shin Bet intelligence agency. 60-year-old Yousef is a senior Hamas figure in the West Bank and has previously been imprisoned for his terror-related activities. The IDF said that he had been arrested for “actively instigating and inciting terrorism.”

IDF spokesman Peter Lerner commented, “Hamas’ leaders cannot expect to propagate violence and terror from the comfort of their living-rooms and pulpits of their mosques. When you encourage, promote and praise the death the innocent, the IDF will act swiftly in order to contain the hateful incitement that jeopardizes the safety and wellbeing of so many Israelis and Palestinians alike.”