A number of Palestinian residents of the West Bank involved in a terror cell that planned to carry out shooting attacks on Israelis were arrested by Israeli security services, the Shin Bet said on Tuesday.
The Palestinians were directed by a Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) activist based in Lebanon.
The PLF operative was named by the Shin Bet as Alaam Kabhi, originally from Nablus, who is responsible within the PLF for coordinating terror attacks across the West Bank.
As part of his role, Kabhi identifies and recruits Palestinian terrorists, some members of his family, to carry out attacks, the Israeli security agency said.
The Lebanon-West Bank terror ring
As part of the Shin Bet's investigation, a number of Palestinians recruited by Kabhi were probed including Marad Kabhi, a relative and resident of the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. As part of the probe into Kabhi, two M-16 rifles in possession of the terror cell were confiscated.
In addition to Marad Kabhi, a number of Palestinians recruited by Kabhi were arrested prior to carrying out terror attacks, the Shin Bet said, including Khaled Abu al-Hijaa, who said during his investigation that he was recruited by Kabhi to lead the West Bank terror cell.
Kabhi and al-Hijaa were charged by the IDF Military Court, the Shin Bet said.
This is a developing story.