The Shin Bet security agency on Sunday revealed that an Arab Israeli resident "promoted terrorist activity in Israel at the direction of Hamas," taking photos of a military site and recruiting other operatives.
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"A local terrorist infrastructure was exposed which intended to carry out terrorist activities in Israel," the Shin Bet began its press statement on the investigation.
Video: Kamal Adwan director confesses hospital used for taking hostages / Credit: Shin Bet security agency
A resident of the northern Israeli town of Ein Mahil was arrested in January, as well as two other accomplices whom he recruited. During the investigation, it emerged that the suspect Rami Habiballah reached out on his own to Hamas and wanted to promote terrorist activities in Israel.
Habiballah sent a photo of a military site near to his residence and its exact location, in order for Hamas to fire rockets at the sensitive area. Now being directed by Hamas, he began recruiting other Arab Israelis to promote more terrorist activities in Israel. As such, he turned to a number of people to take part.
Among those arrested was a neighbor by the name of Khaled Salah, who agreed to carry out terrorist activities with Habiballah, even offering to provide the weapons. A third suspect was detained, but his identity was not disclosed by the Shin Bet.
At the end of the investigation, the Shin Bet and Israel Police of the North District filed indictments against the two men at the district court in Nazareth. The charges on Habiballah included assisting the enemy in the war, contact with a foreign agent, prohibited action on property for terrorist purposes, conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, and more. Salah was only charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.
The Shin Bet statement concluded, "this activity was thwarted in the initial stages even before the squad members had time to execute the plan for terrorist activity inside Israel."
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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