The terrorist, in Israel illegally, admitted he was en route to committing a large-scale terror attack.
By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News
A Palestinian terrorist armed with an submachine gun and two bombs was arrested by officers in the Arab-Jewish coastal city of Jaffa on Thursday, on his way to committing a major terror attack in Tel Aviv, police said.
The 19-year-old resident of Nablus, who crossed the green line illegally, aroused the suspicion of officers from the Yassam special forces unit near Jaffa’s clock tower who then arrested him. He was carrying two pipe bombs filled with nails, police said, as well as a Palestinian manufactured ‘Carlo’ submachine gun, a weapon of choice for terrorists from Judea and Samaria, since they are untraceable.
Police bomb sappers defused the explosives.
The teen later admitted that he was on his way to commit a large-scale attack and was looking for somewhere crowded, police said.
“He was looking to commit a massacre,” Police Chief Kobi Shabtai told reporters at the scene.
Shabtai hailed the Yassam officers for “preventing a huge and deadly terror attack.”
Sharif Hason, one of the officers who arrested the terrorist, described the incident.
“We were in Jaffa, we identified a suspicious person, stopped him and he admitted that he was in Israel illegally,” he said.
“He had a really heavy bag, and there was something metal poking out. While checking it we saw it was a gun. We told the guy to get down on the floor, that he was under arrest,” he added.
The terrorist had just been released from a four-month prison sentence for bringing a knife onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in April.
Another suspect in the area was also detained.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid said police prevented a “significant terrorist attack.”
“The State of Israel will act forcefully and without compromise against those who try to harm us. I commend the security forces for apprehending the terrorists in Tel Aviv-Yafo and preventing a significant terrorist attack,” he said in a statement.
“We must continue to act with all the tools at our disposal to restore security and stability to the region.”
The statement also noted that Lapid held a security assessment earlier in the day at IDF headquarters to discuss the upsurge of terrorism, “the goal of which was to consider tools and immediate action to stabilize the security situation in Judea and Samaria and halt the deterioration.”