VIDEO - Police and Shin Bet officers foiled a suicide attack which was meant to take place in Tel Aviv Saturday after discovering an explosive belt hidden in a residential building in the city's southern area.
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| Controlled-detonation of explosive belt (Video: Israel Police) |
The belt was found following the arrest of Mahadi Ashur, a Palestinian from Nablus who worked in Tel Aviv. The man was apprehended during last week's operation in Biet llma, a refugee camp in the West Bank city.
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| Full closure on West Bank, Gaza / Ynet |
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Full closure imposed on Gaza and West Bank ahead of Yom Kippur, IDF to allow passage only for humanitarian needs |
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Sappers conducted a controlled-detonation of the belt.
The belt was the same one IDF forces in Nablus failed to locate after arresting a would-be suicide bomber, his recruiter and the planner of an attack that was meant to be carried out in central Israel.
On Friday it was reported that Duvdevan unit forces operating in Nablus arrested senior Hamas member Niyad Shkirat. Forty-nine other wanted Palestinians were also captured during the operation, and all suspects were transferred to defense forces for questioning.
Shkirat admitted in his interrogation that he had passed an explosive belt to Ashur, who was supposed to carry out the attack.
During the operation, IDF forces also uncovered a large Hamas weapons lab in Nablus.
West Bank Brigade Commander Colonel Amir Baram said at the conclusion of the IDF's operation in Nablus Friday that "the activity of IDF forces in Nablus thwarted a terror attack in the immediate future".
The cooperation between the IDF, the police and the Shin Bet made for a safe Yom Kippur weekend, IDF sources told Ynet.
The security establishment imposed a closure on Gaza and the West Bank just before Yom Kippur, allowing Palestinians to pass though IDF checkpoints only in special cases.
The closure's continuance is to be decided in a security assessment meeting, scheduled for late Saturday.
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