Israeli Arab mother of 7 charged with aiding Gaza terror group

An Israeli Arab woman living in the Gaza Strip has been charged with entering Israel with plans to carry out an attack on behalf of a terrorist group, the Shin Bet security service said Thursday.

The woman was named as 40-year-old Nassrin Hassan Abdullah Hassan, a Haifa native who is married to a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, where she has been living in recent years.

Hassan was arrested on October 18 at the Erez Border Crossing by the Shin Bet. The gag order on the details of her arrest was lifted Thursday.

The Southern District Prosecution filed an indictment at Beersheba District Court against Hassan for alleged espionage and aiding enemy forces.

In a statement, the Shin Bet said its investigation showed that Hassan had been recruited by Kataeb al Mujahideen, a Gaza-based terrorist group linked to several attacks against Israel in October 2013.

Investigators said Hassan’s Israeli citizenship afforded the mother of seven “freedom of movement inside Israel and access to and from the country.”

The Shin Bet says that in 2014 Hassan collected information on behalf of the group regarding security provisions at Haifa government buildings, synagogues, court house and train stations, as well as the city’s sizable port.

“Upon her return to the Gaza Strip, [Hassan] passed on this information to the terrorist group, with full knowledge that it would be used to carry out terrorist activity,” the statement said.

Shin Bet investigators said Hassan also confessed to having agreed to carry out terrorist attacks inside Israel, and receiving training in how to detonate explosive devices.

“This is grave activity taken by an Israeli citizen, who by exploiting her Israeli citizenship chose to join a terrorist group in the Gaza Strip and assist in carrying out attacks in Israel.”