IDF uncovers Hamas cell planning Yom Kippur attack

8 Hamas terrorists operating out of Ramallah-area university arrested for planning Yom Kippur terror attack.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli security forces arrested eight terrorists Sunday, breaking up a terror cell the military said was preparing for an imminent attack on an Israeli target.

The eight terrorists, affiliated with the Gaza-based Hamas terror organization, were operating out of the Birzeit University near Ramallah, an IDF spokesperson said Sunday afternoon.

The terror cell was planning on carrying out an attack in the near future, the army added, likely during the Yom Kippur holiday, which begins at sundown on Sunday.

IDF forces working in conjunction with the Shin Bet carried out the Birzeit University campus raid.

A ninth terrorist was also apprehended in the village of Birzeit, though it is unclear if this arrest was connected to the cell uncovered at the university.

Four other Hamas terrorists were also arrested in raids in the Hebron district of Judea before dawn Sunday.

The four terrorists, who were captured in the town of Khirbat Karme, just south of Hebron, were part of the “Haktala Islamiya” wing of the Hamas organization, which enlists students to aid the terror group.

“This is another example of how the Hamas terrorist organization uses legitimate institutions in order to promote terrorist activities and serve as a refuge for these operations,” an IDF spokesperson said.