Attack averted at Tel Aviv bus station

Alert security guard noticed would-be stabber from Jenin before he entered.

By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF
A Palestinian resident of the West Bank was arrested late Sunday night on suspicion of planning to carry out a stabbing attack at Tel Aviv's central bus station. A security guard at the station noticed the suspicious figure as he got out of a car close to one of the entrances. He searched the man's belongings and found a knife. The 24-year-old resident of Jenin told his interrogators that he planned the attack in exchange for a financial reward a Palestinian terror group promised would be granted to his family. Thousands of policemen and IDF soldiers deployed throughout the country on Sunday as the defense establishment, recording over 70 terror threats, raised the level of alert in preparation for the elections. Meanwhile, IDF forces arrested 18 fugitives throughout the West Bank early Monday. Three Hamas operatives and a member of the Islamic Jihad were arrested near Tulkarm. Two Palestinians were arrested south of Kalkilya carrying four firebombs while six additional Hamas members were arrested in Ramallah. In operations near Hebron, IDF troops arrested a PFLP operative and five Tanzim operatives. Also in the Hebron area, late on Sunday night, a Palestinian was shot and wounded by IDF troops after he allegedly threw rocks at the force. Another two Palestinians were arrested in the city itself after they tried entering the Mahpelah Cave with two large knives concealed in their clothing.