IDF thwarts suicide bomber en route to Tel Aviv attack

Palestinian terrorist was shot dead by troops before reaching central Israel, planned to detonate homemade bomb weighing nearly 50 pounds.

By World Israel News Staff

IDF soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian terrorist on Monday who was bound for Tel Aviv with a massive homemade bomb, according to a report from Hebrew-language media.

The terrorist, identified as 32-year-old Mohammed Jaber from the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Jenin, which is widely known as a hotbed for terror, was traveling with an accomplice towards central Israel.

Leveraging intelligence obtained by the Shin Bet about Jaber’s plan, soldiers from the elite Duvdevan unit monitored the terrorist’s movements, attempting to arrest him after he stopped in a store near a border crossing with Israel.

Jaber pulled a gun on the troops, the IDF said in a statement, and was immediately shot dead. His accomplice was also killed by security forces.

In the car in which the two men were traveling, troops discovered an improvised explosive device in Jaber’s backpack weighing nearly 50 pounds (40 kg.)

Had Jaber successfully set off the device in a crowded area in Tel Aviv, dozens of innocent civilians would likely have been killed and wounded.

The attempted attack calls to mind the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Jaber’s foiled plot is unusual due to its dependence on explosives, as most terror attacks in recent years involve shooting, stabbing, or car ramming.

Notably, Jaber’s bombing attempt occurred on the first full day of the monthlong Islamic Ramadan holiday.

“Ramadan is fertile ground for waging jihad war on the infidels,” a security official told Ynet.

Senior Israeli intelligence officials have warned that Hamas terrorists are seeking to escalate tensions during the holiday period, in the hopes of inciting Arab-Israelis and Arab residents of PA-controlled areas into committing lone wolf terror attacks.