Shin Bet releases terror report
According to report, 33 Israelis murdered by terrorists during seven-month relative lull in violence. Shin Bet says it foiled abductions, shooting attacks on Israeli vehicles, Qassam attacks in West Bank
TEL AVIV - Planned abductions of soldiers and settlers in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, suicide bombings in the heart of Israel, shooting attacks on Israeli vehicles, and a suicide bombing on Temple Mount, are just some of the many terror attacks the Shin Bet has successfully thwarted during the seven-month relative lull in violence.
Some 33 Israelis were murdered and 286 were injured in terror attacks over the past seven months, while mortar shell fire on Israel has increased by 50 percent in July, a Shin Bet report published Monday says.
Furthermore, the 436 terror attacks recorded in July broke the "all-time record" of October 2004, where the number of terror attcks reached 426.
Meanwhile, Shin Bet officials say they continue to face a high number of terror threats at present.
Attempted kidnapping, Qassam rockets
During a combined operation in June 2005, Shin Bet and IDF troops arrested members belonging to an Islamic Jihad cell who had planned to kidnap soldiers and settlers at a hitchhiking post in the Gush Etzion area near Jerusalem.
The group planned to hire a vehicle with an Israeli license plate and hide the hostages in an apartment in Hebron, with the aim of using them to negotiate the release of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
During the same month, Shin Bet and IDF soldiers arrested two terrorists - Raad Higawi and Yousef al-Aziz- responsible for the explosives infrastructure in the West Bank city of Jenin. The suspects had attempted to create high-trajectory weaponry.
Cell members had intensively worked towards producing these weapons, as well as Qassam rockets. They unsuccessfully tried to launch two rockets into the northern West Bank settlement of Kadim.
The group was also responsible for shooting attacks and placing explosive devices near IDF forces in the Jenin area.
During questioning, Higawi said most funding and logistical assistance for the cell came from among other sources, several Hizbullah members.
Al-Aziz admitted during the investigation to recently planning with other activists to kidnap and murder three Israeli citizens who came to their garage to fix their cars.
Terror threats continue in Nablus
In separate operations by the IDF and Shin Bet, members from Tanzim and Popular Resistance Committees from the West Bank city of Ramallah were also arrested, after they planned to carry out several terror attacks in the Jerusalem area.
The security establishment says that since February, "Nablus has not stopped posing a substantial Palestinian terror threat to Israel."
In addition, during a series of military activities in Jenin on July 27, several terror suspects were arrested including Hamza Kharkur, a senior Islamic Jihad member responsible for military infrastructure in the Jenin area.
Kharkur had recruited activists for Islamic Jihad and had conducted shooting exercises. He is also responsible for carrying out a number of suicide attacks.
According to the security establishment, "Jenin's infrastructure intensively operated to launch terror attacks in Israel."
