Shin Bet thwarted election-day Hamas terror attack near Jerusalem

Israel’s security agency says it prevented a Hamas terror attack planned for around election day near Jerusalem.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency announced Sunday that it had thwarted a Hamas suicide terror attack planned to take place around the time of the Knesset election on April 9.

In a statement, the Shin Bet said that it had worked together with the IDF in uncovering a terror cell in Judea and Samaria, the members of which had been recruited by senior Hamas operatives from the Gaza Strip. The plan, says the security agency, was to carry out a car bombing attack near Ma’ale Adumim outside Jerusalem.

Hamas member 23-year-old Yahya Abu Dia, himself from the Jerusalem area, was said to have been arrested nearly a month ago, but the announcement of the quashed terror plot was delayed due to security considerations, according to the Shin Bet.

“In his interrogation… Abu Dia said that he was in touch with senior Hamas members in the Gaza Strip using the internet, had been recruited for military activities, and agreed to carry out missions and act as a suicide bomber,” the agency said.

“Abu Dia was instructed to purchase a car and rent a storage facility in order to prepare the car bomb and also to track the best site for the attack in the area of Ma’ale Adumim, somewhere where there would be a high concentration of buses, civilians, and soldiers,” said the statement.

Israeli officials have spoken repeatedly of ongoing efforts by Hamas to exploit its resources in Gaza, where it rules, to spread terror to Judea and Samaria, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is the governing body and where there is close proximity to Israeli communities.

“The terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is working constantly to recruit Hamas operatives from Judea and Samaria to carry out murderous terror attacks in order to derail the security and stability of the area,” the Shin Bet said in its statement, adding that it has succeeded in preventing the execution of many of the plots.

“This activity of the Hamas military wing joins a long list of attempted terrorist attacks directed by Hamas which recruited activists in Judea and Samaria that have been thwarted by the Shin Bet in recent years and have so far led to the arrest of many individuals. The Shin Bet security service and other security agencies will continue to act to prevent terrorist attacks by Hamas,” said the statement.