The Shin Bet security agency says it recently foiled an Islamic State-inspired attack by four West Bank Palestinians who manufactured some 100 explosive devices to be used against IDF troops.
The four suspects, arrested last month, are named by the Shin Bet as Murad Marqatan, Hasin Marqatan, Muhammad Marqatan, and Ahmed Marqatan, all residents of Tarqumiyah near Hebron.
The Shin Bet says the cell prepared some 100 explosive devices using online guides and instructions received by the head of the cell, Murad Marqatan, who contacted Islamic State operatives abroad.
The cell also had assault rifles and makeshift submachine guns, the agency says.
It says the cell planned to attack IDF troops in the West Bank.
Two Arab lawmakers meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah amid concerns that the Muslim holy month Ramadan could amplify tensions stemming from the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip
MK Ayman Odeh, the head of the predominantly Arab Hadash-Ta’al alliance and party chairman Ahmad Tibi traveled to Amman and asked the Jordanian monarch to enable freedom of worship at the Temple Mount during Ramadan, Channel 12 reports.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has sought to impose sweeping restrictions to prevent West Bank Palestinians from praying at the Temple Mount during Ramadan, and is reportedly pushing for banning Arab Israeli citizens below the age of 70 from visiting the site amid the month of fasting, citing the security situation.
Other defense and political officials have warned such restrictions could serve to greatly inflame tensions.
In an interview posted today, a Hamas political official tells the BBC that the organization cannot give Israel a list of living hostages because it does not itself know who is alive and where all the hostages are.
“We didn’t until now submit any list,” politburo member Basim Naim tells the BBC from Istanbul in a Sunday conversation. “But first of all, technically and practically, it is now impossible to know exactly who is still alive and who has been killed because of the Israeli bombardment or who has been killed because of starvation because of the Israeli blockade.”
He adds that the hostages “are in different areas with different groups and therefore we have called for a ceasefire to be able to collect the data.”
Naim repeats the Hamas demand that it will not agree to a deal without an end to the war and a full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.
The IDF says it struck a Hezbollah compound where members of the terror group were gathered in the southern Lebanon town of Chihine a short while ago.
Earlier today, another site belonging to Hezbollah in Ayta ash-Shab was struck, the IDF says.
In response to the anti-tank missile attack on Margaliot that killed a foreign laborer and wounded seven others, the IDF says it is shelling the launch site.
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