Iran helping Hamas revive terror cells in Judea and Samaria, report says

Senior security sources in the Palestinian Authority say that Iran is helping Hamas to build up its terror cells in Judea and Samaria.

By World Israel News Staff

Palestinian Authority security sources say that a single thread connects recent violence against Israel, including the killing of Jewish student Dvir Sorek, Tisha B’Av riots on the Temple Mount and recent attempts by terrorists to infiltrate from the Gaza Strip. That thread is Iran according to PA sources, Israel Hayom reports on Wednesday.

The PA sources told Israel Hayom that Tehran hopes to revamp Hamas’s terror cells in Judea and Samaria in order to carry out terror attacks against the Israel Defense Forces and Jewish civilians.

They said the directive to ramp up the violence on the Temple Mount came straight from Iran.

The PA sources also say that the killing of Dvir Sorek last Wednesday was directly related to Hamas’s efforts to rebuild its cells in Judea and Samaria. Sorek was killed by two cousins, one of whom was a Hamas member. Hamas praised the killing of the 19-year-old student.

Those efforts are led by Hamas deputy political chief Salah al-Arouri, who founded the  Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, they say.

“Al-Arouri is receiving military help and financial support from the regime in Tehran, and he’s working intensively to revamp Hamas terror cells in the West Bank, exploiting the political freeze and the fact that the leadership in Ramallah has reduced to a minimum its security cooperation with Israel,” a PA source told Israel Hayom.

Ma’ariv report last week that several Hamas cells have been discovered recently in Judea and Samaria. They were recruiting Hamas activists for terror attacks against Israeli targets and the Palestinian Authority.

“Activists in the area were instructed to set up squads to carry out kidnapping, shooting and stabbing attacks, to acquire weapons and to locate and recruit additional terrorist operatives,” the paper said, adding that the operatives were “under direct guidance of the military wing of the Hamas terror organization in the Gaza Strip.”

On August 2, Hamas leaders paid a visit to Iran. The delegation included the head of the Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hamas official Izzat Al Rishq.

In June, Iran announced it was renewing financial support of Hamas.