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Israeli Forces Bust 'West Bank' Hamas Cell

CBN

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JERUSALEM, Israel – In another successful sting operation, the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) busted a large Hamas terror cell operating out of Kalkilya, a Palestinian Arab city in the northwest corner of Samaria.

According to the IDF statement, the leaders in charge of "regional headquarters" received funding and orders from Hamas headquarters in Qatar and the Gaza Strip. The cell's mission was to beef up Hamas activities in the area and plan and carry out terror attacks.
 
Overnight Tuesday, Israeli security forces took 24 cell members into custody, among them senior Hamas operatives with prior records of terror-related activities. Israeli forces also seized around 35,000 shekels (about $9,000).

"The Hamas infrastructure in Kalkilya is one of the oldest and most established in the Judea and Samaria Region," the IDF said in its statement.

Meanwhile, stepped-up responses to the latest spate of stabbings, shootings, and vehicular, rock and firebomb attacks have restored some normalcy to city streets, but sporadic attacks continue to occur, particularly in Hebron.

On Tuesday, three attacks took place within hours of one another. Around midday, two knife-wielding Arab cousins, aged 14 and 11, attacked a security guard on the light rail in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev.

One of them stabbed him in the chest before the guard shot him, wounding him seriously. Passengers subdued the second one until police arrived. Two more stabbings followed, one near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City and the third at a checkpoint near Abu Dis. In both attacks, the terrorists were shot and killed. 

Border and municipal police deployed on city streets and at bus and light rail stations, are providing a sense of security to Israelis as they go about their daily lives.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon attributed most of the assaults to "lone attackers," saying Israeli intelligence has kept a handle on organized terror cells in Judea and Samaria.

Ya'alon said Hamas is more interested in Judea and Samaria right now than the Gaza Strip.

"A situation has been created in which Hamas has no interest in an escalation in Gaza, but it is interested in escalating the situation in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria," the Jerusalem Post quoted Ya'alon's statements on Monday.

Israeli policy, Ya'alon said, is to punish terrorists while helping the general Palestinian Arab population as much as possible.

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