Border Police officers arrested a Hamas-linked terrorist who was planning a terror attack near the Palestinian West Bank village of al-Mughayir on Sunday night, Israel Police said on Monday.
The officers set up a roadblock during an operation, stopping a vehicle that raised their suspicions.
They found that the vehicle had been stolen from Israel, further finding information on the suspect’s phone that indicated affiliation with terrorist organizations, such as praising and expressing support for Hamas actions, including the October 7, 2023, massacre.
Police searches find suspect wrote will, indicating plans for terror attack
During a search of the vehicle, the police officers found a booklet in Arabic that contained a will including the suspect’s name, which had been used before carrying out a terror attack.
The investigation also found that the suspect was a member of various WhatsApp groups, including those containing settlers and IDF soldiers, as well as other groups related to security and terrorist content, police noted.
The suspected terrorist, who is 21 years old and from Jericho, was arrested and transferred to Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for further questioning.
Hamas claims disarmament is ‘way for Israel to continue genocide against Palestinians’
The arrest of the pro-Hamas suspect comes amid ongoing discussions over plans to disarm the terror group, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Discussing Hamas’s disarmament before the first phase of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal is fully implemented is an attempt to continue “a genocide against the Palestinian people,” the terror organization said in a Sunday statement.
According to Hamas, Israel “calls for an illusory peace through brute force, spreading destruction across the entire region.”
In a televised statement, Hamas’s armed wing spokesperson Abu Obaida said that raising the issue of weapons “in a crude manner” would not be accepted.
The issue of Hamas relinquishing its weapons is a major obstacle in talks to implement US President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace plan for Gaza, aimed at cementing a ceasefire that halted two years of full-scale fighting last October.
Hamas has told mediators it will not discuss disarmament without guarantees that Israel will completely quit Gaza, three sources told Reuters last week.
Abu Obeida also addressed Hezbollah last week, calling on the Lebanese terror group to “intensify their efforts” to kidnap IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon in order to “liberate” Palestinian and Arab prisoners threatened by the Knesset passing the death sentence bill.
Tzvi Jasper and Reuters contributed to this report.