by Lilach Shoval
In new tactic, Hamas leaders in Gaza take advantage of Israeli gesture of allowing Palestinians into Israel for medical treatment to stage attacks in Israel, Shin Bet security agency says
Hamas' military
wing has grown more sophisticated in recruiting personnel for its
terrorist networks in Judea and Samaria, Israel's Shin Bet security
agency revealed Thursday.
In an unusually detailed statement, the
agency said that Hamas has increasingly taken advantage of Israel's
humanitarian gestures to facilitate attacks.
"Activists from Hamas' military wing in the
Gaza Strip have been recruiting in Judea and Samaria, training recruits
with explosives and instructing them to find targets inside Israel,"
the agency said.
"This is a departure from the activities undertaken by Hamas in recent years, both in scope and in potential threat."
The agency said this activity is "designed
to create a new reality [in Judea and Samaria] in light of the ongoing
events in the Gaza Strip."
According to the Shin Bet, the effort is
being overseen by the senior Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. A
substantial part of the mechanism includes exploiting the special
permits Israel grants Gazans for emergency medical care in Israel.
"To establish contact with operatives in
Judea and Samaria, Hamas exploits residents of Gaza who have permits to
receive life-saving care in Israeli hospitals," the Shin Bet said.
One example provided was of Nueima Mukdad, a
53-year-old Palestinian mother of nine who accompanied her 47-year-old
sister to Israel in August when the latter was undergoing cancer
treatment.
After entering Israel, the two sisters met
in Ramallah with Hamas activist Fouad Dar Halil from Sinjil, a small
village nearby, who had served 14 years in an Israeli prison for his
role in major terrorist attacks.
They handed him a suitcase with a secret
letter, in which the Hamas military wing in Gaza asked him to carry out
Hamas attacks in Israel and recruit others to join him.
In the letter, the military wing promised
that it would help Halil obtain weapons and funding for carrying out the
attacks, as well as provide him with instructional videos on how to
make bombs using new techniques that have never been used before in
Judea and Samaria. Halil complied with their request.
According to Israeli officials, the
terrorist networks that Hamas established in Judea and Samaria in this
manner were directed to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli
targets as quickly as possible, to force Israel to confront escalation
on two fronts rather than just in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas' efforts in Judea and Samaria were
discovered after the arrest of Ayus Rajoub, a 25-year-old Hamas
operative who lives near Hebron.
Rajoub was arrested on Sept. 23, and in an
unusual step, the Shin Bet released a tape of his interrogation. In it,
Rajoub reveals that he was promised financial help by Hamas' military
wing, because it wanted Judea and Samaria residents to stage major
attacks inside Israel, in shopping malls, hotels, buses and trains.
Rajoub was hoping to carry out the attacks
in early October. He had recruited operatives from a nearby village and
told them to find targets for attacks inside Israel, as well as prepare
explosives for a bomb while he was building the detonator, as per
instructions from the Gaza Strip.
"This adds to a long list of attempts by
Hamas' military wing to stage attacks by means of recruiting activists
in Judea and Samaria," a senior Shin Bet official said.
"This has led to the arrest of hundreds of young activists in Judea and Samaria, including female students and young women.
"This is how Hamas' military wing sabotages
the lives of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, taking them down the
dark path of terrorism."
Lilach Shoval
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/23/hamas-exploits-sick-palestinians-for-terrorism-shin-bet-reveals/
Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment