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Shin Bet uncovers third Hamas cell within a month

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Israel’s Shin Bet security agency yesterday announced that it had captured a Hamas cell planning to carry out shooting attacks on Israelis near Hebron. It was the third time the Shin Bet had announced it uncovered a Hamas cell in the West Bank within the past month.

All of those arrested in the joint Shin Bet-IDF operation are residents of Hebron. Four were named, including the cell’s leader, 38-year-old Mehmad Ali Kawasmeh, the brother of one of the terrorists who kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in summer 2014. During the investigation, an M-16 rifle and handguns were recovered. Meanwhile, the cell had scouted out the ideal vantage point for a shooting attack on Route 35, which stretches from Hebron to the coastal city of Ashkelon. Kawasmeh is also said to have recruited logistical support to provide a stolen car and assistance following the planned attack.

In a statement, the Shin Bet said, “The thwarting of this terror cell, which was nearly prepared to carry out an attack, again demonstrates the never-ending attempts by Hamas operatives in Hebron to carry out severe terror acts.”

Yesterday’s announcement follows similar news last week, in which the Shin Bet said it had arrested six members of a Hamas cell in Jerusalem and Hebron planning to kidnap and murder an Israeli civilian in order to exchange the body for Palestinian prisoners. The group had already designated a cave near Hebron in which to hide the body. One of those arrested was another member of the Kawasmeh family, considered a major Hamas-supporting clan in Hebron.

Meanwhile, in late December the Shin Bet said that it had apprehended at least 25 members of a significant Hamas cell in the West Bank, which was actively planning suicide and car bombings inside Israel. The cell was already operating a makeshift explosives laboratory in Abu Dis near Jerusalem. Had it been successful, the Shin Bet said that the group would have caused a “significant escalation in the security situation.”