The Shin Bet exposed during the months of August and September a network of women operating for the Islamic Jihad as part of the organization's terror infrastructure in the West Bank. This was cleared for publication Tuesday.
The network is split into two terror cells – one in Kfar Ayin and one in Kfar Na'ama – that have carried out shooting attacks and have laid roadside bombs around Ramallah. The network has even operated an explosives lab. The Shin Bet and the IDF have arrested a number of the network's members.
| Female Suicide Bomber |
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| Gaza: Suicide bomber blows herself up near IDF force / Hanan Greenberg |
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Woman wearing explosive belt approaches Givati soldiers manning temporary checkpoint in Beit Hanoun, blows herself up. One soldier lightly injured, terrorist killed. Suicide bomber apparently affiliated with al-Quds Brigades |
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One of the senior women arrested is Wadha Faqhaa, 24, from Jilzon, dealt with transferring finances to one of the cells. Faqhaa, head of the Islamic Jihad office in Ramallah, was arrested on August 3. During her interrogation, she said that she received funds from the organization's command center in Syria. Some of the funds she allocated to finance terrorist cells by way of a number of women Islamic Jihad activists serving as money couriers.
Beit Hanoun. (Photo: Reuters)
Two of the couriers – Haba Hamidat, 21, and Falastin Tsoobah, 21, also residents Jilzon – worked in the Islamic Jihad office in Ramallah that takes care of the organization's prisoners. They were arrested on August 20 and confessed to the accusations against them.
In addition to the two couriers, Faqhaa was also aided by other Islamic Jihad activists who served as a conduit for transferring funds from the organization's central command in Syria to the terror cells.
Two of these activists – Afat Khalifa, 21, from Kfar Naama, and Zakia Guanma, 40, from Jilzon – were arrested as well. They said during their interrogations that they received commission of USD 100 for each money transfer they carried out. These funds then funded the terror attacks of the Islamic Jihad's terror cells.
The sixth member who was arrested is Rania Abu Khadir, 26, from Tzurif. She is the head of the Islamic Jihad's student union at Hebron University. Khadir is suspected of being active in charity organizations, which transferred funds to terrorist organizations and the families of suicide bombers.
The defense establishment noted that in recent years, the phenomenon of infiltrating women into Fatah and Islamic Jihad positions serving in organizational roles, logistical aid in the West Bank, and running charity organizations as a front for organizational activity has been common.
Because of the senior positions of the women and their linkage between the organizational operations and the terror operations, the Shin Bet pointed out that some of the women dabbled both in terrorist activity and in financing it.
The defense establishment said that the women's arrest significantly damages the organization's capacity to recruit funds and to transfer them to operatives in a number of areas around Hebron and Ramallah.
In the northern Gaza Strip, on the other hand, a female suicide bomber from the al-Quds Brigade, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad, exploded herself Monday near IDF forces operating in Beit Hanoun. The suicide bomber, Marvat Masud, was killled and a soldier was lightly injured.
The incident took place at about 3:30 p.m., when the woman arrived at a temporary checkpoint set up by Givati soldiers in town. The crossing was established in the framework of efforts to apprehend wanted suspects.
Women's participation in terror activities was also manifested on Friday in Beit Hanoun. IDF soldiers besieged a mosque
in the town and called on dozens of wanted Palestinians to exit the building and turn themselves in.
Following heavy exchanges of fire between the gunmen and the soldiers, most of the suspects escaped dressed as women and merged into a group of women protesting in the area.
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