Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday evening responded to the recent discovery of a Hamas terrorist network in Judea and Samaria and in east Jerusalem by delivering a message to Turkey.
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"Hamas' offices in Istanbul need to be shut down," he said. "We need to prevent these despicable terrorist activities against Israeli civilians anywhere and always."
Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government bolstered its already close relationship with Hamas by granting Turkish citizenship to senior Hamas members. The move would allow them to travel freely and enable them to plot terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets across the globe.
Seven of 12 Hamas operatives who use Turkey as their base of operations have received Turkish citizenship, as well as passports, while another five are in the process of receiving them. In some cases, the Hamas terrorists are living under Turkish aliases.
"It isn't just Israel's duty to act against Hamas terror; it's the duty of the entire international community. The countries of the world need to act just as Great Britain did and outlaw Hamas. I wish to send a message of appreciation to the security forces for their decisive action to prevent Hamas terror," the Israeli foreign minister said.
Within the framework of the latest operations to disrupt Hamas' terrorist network in Judea and Samara, the IDF's counter-terrorist unit "Duvdevan" detained 14 Hamas operatives, among them arms and explosives dealers for the purpose of perpetrating terrorist attacks in the immediate future. During one of the raids in the village of Burqin, west of Jenin, two Duvdevan soldiers were seriously wounded – Capt. "D" and Sgt. First Class "Y."
On September 13, 2021, Duvdevan commander Lt. Col. "E" led a massive operation in the village of Bidu consisting of 170 of the unit's soldiers. The soldiers raided the village after receiving intelligence information that Hamas terrorists located there intended to carry out attacks against Israelis. In that operation, eight Hamas terrorists were arrested.
On September 26, 2021, soldiers from the unit, in conjunction with the Shin Bet security agency, carried out a daring undercover operation, with some of the soldiers disguised as locals, near a gas station in the heart of Jenin. The soldiers apprehended wanted terrorist Mahmoud Saadi, who had been recruited by Hamas to plan and perpetrate terrorist attacks in the immediate future.
That same night, Duvdevan soldiers carried out three simultaneous operations: in Ramallah, Burqin, and Kafr Dan, a Palestinian village northwest of Jenin. During the operation in Burqin, as stated, Capt. "D" and his radioman, Sgt. First Class "Y," were wounded.
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