The Shin Bet and Israel Police uncovered a terrorist group based in northern Israel that was working with Hamas to carry out terrorist attacks in Israel, the two agencies announced in a joint statement on Sunday.
In the past few months, security forces have arrested 13 suspects—most of whom lived in Sakhnin—involved in organizing the group. Some of the suspects were named as Akram Halaila, Muhammad Musa Abu Salah, Ali Halaila, and Muhammad Suhana Muhammad Ayyoush.
Additionally, security forces arrested a resident of the West Bank, Suhaib Jalboush, for selling weapons to the terrorist group. Four firearms, ammunition, and vests intended for terrorist attacks were seized from the suspects.
After questioning the suspects, the Shin Bet and Police found that Muhammad Haled and Muhammad Yusuf recruited the other members of the terrorist group from within Sakhnin. The group purchased weapons from sources in the West Bank in an attempt to organize terrorist attacks.
One of the suspects, Muhammad Khaled Halaila, was in contact with Hamas members in the Gaza Strip, who provided him with instructions on how to prepare explosive devices and directed him to recruit more people to conduct terrorist attacks.
Firearms belonging to a terrorist group discovered in the Sakhnin area. (Credit: Israel Police)
Suspects also took part in May 2021 riots
Some of the suspects were also found to have participated in throwing Molotov cocktails at the town of Eshbal, near Sakhnin, during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021.
On Sunday morning, the Haifa District Attorney’s office filed charges against the 13 suspects and requested that their arrest be extended until the end of the proceedings.
“This is a serious operation against [national] security [organized by] Israeli citizens who hatched a terrorist plan with the involvement of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip in a way that also has the potential to harm the normative majority in Arab society,” said the Shin Bet and Israel Police.
“The Shin Bet and Israel Police will continue their operations to thwart terrorism and to locate assailants who take part in activities that endanger national security, including those who took part in terrorist activities during the Guardians of the Walls riots.”
The commander of the Central Unit in the Northern District of Israel Police, Eyal Harari, noted that the number of such incidents is “only increasing,” adding that “everything is happening with the contribution and encouragement of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations, even Iran is contributing.”
According to Harari, the investigation began in late January and took 48 days to complete. The police have been dealing with several such cases, including one case in which an Israeli Arab terrorist planned to attack a refinery in Haifa.
“I would like to say that those Israeli Arabs against whom indictments are filed are a handful of terrorists who are incited and coordinated by terrorist organizations, but it is important to emphasize that they do not represent the entirety of the Israeli Arabs who are part of the melting pot in the State of Israel and who have proven their loyalty within the State of Israel,” stressed Harari.
Latest incident of Hamas-linked terrorists within Israel
The discovery of the group is the latest in a series of terrorism cases in Israeli territory linked to Hamas.
In February, a teacher from northern Israel was arrested after providing Hamas with the location of a defense industry plant in the north to help Hamas fire rockets toward the plant.
The suspect was identified as Rami Habibullah, a resident of Ein Mahil, a town near Nazareth. The Shin Bet and police found that, in light of the conflict in Gaza, Habibullah decided to contact Hamas operatives abroad and offer to help promote terrorist activities in Israel.
The northern resident also worked to recruit other Israeli Arabs to help in promoting terrorist activity within Israel, including Khaled Saleh, a 35-year-old resident of Ein Mahil. Saleh was also arrested and during questioning it emerged that Saleh had agreed to carry out terrorist activities together with Habibullah and had even offered to provide weapons for such operations.
On Friday, a Bedouin Israeli from El-A’sam, located southeast of Beersheba, was indicted on charges that he crossed into Gaza and joined Hamas in 2016, providing the terrorist organization with information about the locations of IDF bases and training with the Nukhba forces, one of the main Hamas forces that conducted the October 7 massacre.
Last May, an Israeli Arab from Umm el-Fahm was arrested by the Shin Bet and Israel Police after he was recruited by Hamas to conduct a bombing attack on a bus in the Hadera area.
The suspect, identified as Muhammad Nadir Mahajna, began to draw close to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and decided to carry out a terrorist attack.
In January 2023, two Israeli citizens from Mu’awiya in northern Israel were arrested after being recruited by Hamas to carry out bombing attacks in the Jewish state.
In October 2022, three Israeli citizens from northern Israel were indicted for helping build a cyber threat against communications infrastructure used by the IDF and for providing sensitive information to the Hamas terrorist movement in Turkey.
The main suspect in the case, identified as R.A., worked as a software engineer at Cellcom, which provides services to the IDF and police. The suspect had broad access privileges to the company’s computer and information systems.
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