The terrorist who carried out the deadly shooting spree in Bnei Brak yesterday previously served 2.5 years in prison for planning to take part in a suicide bombing.
Diaa Hamarsheh, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Ya’bad near Jenin, killed four civilians before he died in a shootout with a police officer, who was his fifth victim.
He previously served time in Israeli prison for membership in a terror group and weapons dealing.
According to Hebrew media reports, in 2011, Hamarsheh went on social media and asked members of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror groups to help him obtain an explosives belt.
However, he was reportedly defrauded by an Islamic Jihad operative he was in touch with and never received the suicide belt he paid for.
He was later arrested and convicted as part of a plea deal.
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