Gazan shepherd arrested by Israel revealed Islamic Jihad terror plot — report

Israel learned of an alleged Palestinian Islamic Jihad plot to conduct a terror attack along the Gaza border from a member of the group who was captured by security forces last week, a Palestinian newspaper reports.

According to the Jerusalem-based al-Quds newspaper, Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian herding sheep near the Gaza security fence. Under interrogation, he reportedly told them he was a member of PIJ and revealed that the group was planning to abduct either a soldier stationed near the border or a civilian worker constructing the new barrier around the coastal enclave.

The Islamic Jihad has denied that it was planning to conduct an attack along the border, which could derail Egyptian-brokered ceasefire negotiations between Israel and terror groups in the Strip, telling the Egyptian military that it planned to uphold any agreement reached.

— Judah Ari Gross