Israel says it captured Gazan jihadist posing as teacher

A Gaza man accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis during last summer’s war in the Strip has been arrested, Israeli officials have just okayed for publication.

According to a statement from the Shin Bet security service, Ihab Saed Abd Alrahman Abu Naghal was arrested in July while trying to make his way from Gaza to Qatar pretending to be a teacher going to a teachers’ conference.

Ihab Saed Abd Alrahman Abu Naghal. (Shin Bet)

The Israeli officials accuse Abu Naghal of being part of the Popular Resistance Committees, a salafist terror group which has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.

According to the release, Abu Naghal, 27, said he was trained as a suicide bomber and was sent on a mission to blow up a bus at the Israel-Egypt border near Eilat in 2014, but was unsuccessful.

He admitted to fighting alongside Hamas against Israel during Operation Protective Edge in northern Gaza.

He was indicted on August 30 on 12 counts, including attempted murder and “contact with an outside agent.”

“The investigation of Abu Naghal proves, once again, how Hamas tries to cynically take advantage of Israeli sensitivities to humanitarian needs,” the Shin Bet says in a statement.