State indicts 5 Gaza terrorists captured during Operation Protective Edge

The indictments allege that members of the five were involved both before and during Operation Protective Edge in manning positions to fire rockets on Israel.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Hamas operatives in Gaza. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas operatives in Gaza.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Southern District Attorney’s Office filed indictments on Tuesday against five Gazans arrested during Operation Protective Edge for a range of terrorism-related offenses.
The five men were charged in the Beersheba District Court with membership in an illegal organization, management- level actions within the terrorist organizations, attempted murder, various weapons offenses, prohibited military training, contact with a foreign agent, conspiracy to commit murder, spying offenses and various offenses to harm the security of the state.
The five are Mahmoud Amour, Muhammad Abu Rida, Moaman Najar, Isa Najar and Khaled Najar, some of whom have been involved in terrorist groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Aksa Martyrs Brigades, since 2007.
The indictments allege that some of the five men were involved in manning positions to fire rockets at Israel, both before and during Operation Protective Edge.
They also say that some of the five, both before and during the operation, manned positions to lay explosive booby-traps for advancing IDF troops or to fire rocket-propelled grenades or AK-47 rifles at the soldiers.
Some of the five were allegedly involved in ferrying explosives to military operatives for use against the IDF, while others performed surveillance on IDF movements to prepare the terrorist groups for any IDF advance.
Additional actions of the five included military training for performing their various terrorism-related activities, guarding strategic terrorist bases, giving directives to other operatives and helping to run mosques where the groups found recruits and funding.
At least some of the suspects were arrested on July 23, in the middle of the current Gaza war, but the Justice Ministry did not fully officially clarify the circumstances of the arrests of the five.
The three with the Najar surnames worked together as part of a cell, while the other two terrorists were part of different cells, but the indictments were filed at the same time since the investigations against them had concluded.
None of the five was charged with murder or successfully carrying out a terrorist operation, though they were clearly in a position to do so in numerous instances.
Abu Rida allegedly served with the Palestinian Authority security forces until Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, and then accepted an offer from Hamas to join its security forces.
The indictments follow the first indictment against Gazans since Operation Protective Edge started, filed on July 30 against Ibrahim Abu Lahya on charges of contact with a foreign agent and membership in an illegal organization.