Israel busts Hamas cell for plotting to kidnap soldiers

Israeli security forces broke up a Hamas terror cell that was plotting to kidnap IDF soldiers in the Hebron area in October, officials said Thursday.

Six members of the seven-person cell were arrested throughout the month of October, and a number of assault rifles and pistols were also found and confiscated, the Shin Bet security service said.

The seventh member and alleged mastermind of the cell, Ibrahaim Abdallah Ghnimat, is accused of planning the kidnapping operations from a prison cell, as he is currently serving a life sentence for his role in a slew of terror attacks in the 1990s, including the kidnapping and murder of an IDF soldier, Sharon Edri.

According to the Shin Bet, the cell had planned to carry out shooting attacks along with the kidnappings, whose purpose was “to bargain for the release of prisoners.”

In preparation for those attacks, the members of the cell scoped out the movement of IDF soldiers near Surif, north of Hebron, with the intent of eventually kidnapping one them, the Shin Bet said.

Officers located two Kalashnikov rifles, two M-16 assault rifles, a hunting rifle and three pistols, along with matching ammunition and magazines, the security service said.

Knives, swords and billy clubs were also seized based on information gleaned from the suspects’ testimonies.

“The discovery of this cell points to the high motivation of Hamas operatives, both in the field and in prison, to carry out serious attacks, including shootings and kidnappings,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.

Ghnimat was first arrested in 2005, nearly 10 years after the kidnapping and murder of Edri. He received a life sentence, but in 2014, while still in prison, was found guilty of planning to kidnap another IDF soldier, in an attack that was thwarted by security forces, and sentenced to an additional four years.

The other cell members, many of them relatives of Ghnimat, come from the Hebron area.

Ghnimat’s sons Fadi and Shadi were arrested in Surif, along with his son-in-law Mahmad Mahmoud Ghnimat.

Rami Rajoub, a resident of Dura, was arrested for having helped Ghnimat plan a kidnapping attack when the two of them were in prison together, the Shin Bet said.

Hitham Na’im Hamidan, from nearby Jaba, was arrested for helping the cell hide its weapons, and Jad Sultan, from Hebron, was arrested for selling some of the guns to the terror cell, the agency said.

During their interrogations, they told investigators they had prepared for their terror attacks by monitoring IDF troops in the Surif area, the Shin Bet said.

The suspects were arrested throughout the course of October, but details of the case were initially suppressed by a gag order.

The Shin Bet has concluded its interrogations of the suspects, the agency said, and indictments are expected to be filed in the coming days.