Tel Aviv beach
Photo: Shaul Golan
Egypt terror cell planned to strike in Tel Aviv
Almasry Alyoum reports two Palestinian Fatah operatives suspected of membership in Hizbullah cell uncovered in Sinai confess to planning to infiltrate into Israel to carry out suicide attacks
Members of the Hizbullah cell uncovered in Egypt planned to carry out terror attacks inside Israel, Egyptian daily Almasry Alyoum reported on Thursday.
According to the report, two of the cell's members are Fatah operatives, who confessed to having planned to enter Israel and carry out massive suicide attacks, "maybe even in Tel Aviv".
Fear of Attack
Reuters and Ahuva Mamos
Number of security patrols increased along Israel-Egypt border, police checkpoints reinforced to prevent illegal crossings after Cairo detained group allegedly linked to Hizbullah, Egyptian defense sources say
Sources close to the investigation told the newspaper that two Fatah members, Muhammad Ramadan Barakeh and Nidal Fathi Hassan were arrested under suspicion of ties with the Hizbullah cell.
Egyptian security forces arrested the two in Sinai a few weeks ago, while they were making their way to one of the underground tunnels leading into Gaza.
Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution began questioning the two on Tuesday, and in their investigation, they confessed to planning to travel first to Sudan, and then to Syria and Lebanon, where they were to train for suicide missions in Israel.
The two also confessed to their affiliation with the Hizbullah cell in Egypt and said they had joined the cell after meeting with the its head Sami Shihab in Egypt in late 2008 after Hamas men breached the border between Gaza and Egypt.
The two were quickly returned to the Gaza Strip, but managed to infiltrate back into Sinai and join the Hizbullah cell.
Montasser el-Zayat, the cell members' head attorney denied the charges brought against the suspects and said the two lived in the El-Arish area with a man who housed African immigrants before they fled to Israel.
