The Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations threatened retaliation Tuesday for the killing of three senior PIJ commanders.

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Palestinian sources told Al-Quds daily that Khalil Bahtini, Tareq Izzeldeen, and Jehad Ghanam were preparing for a trip abroad and were hit by the Israeli strike when leaving for Cairo, Egypt, to hold meetings. From Cairo, they were planning to travel abroad.

The three had apparently been careful to stay in hiding but were targeted when before leaving for Egypt traveled to see their families and say goodbye.

Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas' political bureau, said the operation will not bring Israel more security, but rather more violence.

"The enemy made a mistake in its estimations and will pay the price for its crime," he said.

Haniyeh also added that the "resistance is unified," suggesting that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad might join forces.

In related news, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Tuesday he will cut short his visit to India after receiving a "security update" upon his arrival in New Delhi.

"In light of the events in Israel, I decided to cut short the diplomatic visit to India and return to Israel after my meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that will take place today," Cohen wrote on Twitter.

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Argentina will continue to track down the terrorists responsible for bombing the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, prosecutor Sebastian Basso assured this week, after former Quds Force commander Ahmad Vahidi, one of the alleged perpetrators of the attack, was named Iran's next interior minister.

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Vahidi has been wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization – commonly known as Interpol – since 2007 and an extradition order has been issued against him by Argentina.

Vahidi's appointment drew outrage in Argentina, with its foreign ministry describing the move as "an insult to the justice system and the victims."

"We are doing our utmost to bring the perpetrators to justice in Argentina," Basso told Israel Hayom. "But there is not much we can do outside the borders of the state except ask the executive authority to move forward on the matter."

"The case is open, and the extradition orders are in force, and the prosecution is more interested in this person [Vahidi] standing trial in Argentina. We continue to investigate the case. We are working, among other things, to identify all those who were involved in carrying out the attack. We are aware, however, that after 27 years, it is a rather difficult task."

Basso has been in charge of extradition efforts since 2015, after replacing his predecessor Alberto Nisman, who was assassinated in January that year, four days after accusing then-president Cristina Kirchner (now vice president of Argentina) of manipulating the investigation in favor of the Iranians, as well as of terrorism and treason.

"When Nisman submitted documents in 2016 requesting the extradition of the Iranians involved, he made it clear that the regime in Iran has no constitution or democracy. The appointment does not surprise me, but what makes me sad is that we cannot bring Vahidi to Argentina."

The attack on the Jewish community center occurred on July 18, 1994. A suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with 275 kilograms of explosives into the building. The attack claimed the lives of 85 people and injured hundreds more. The bombing is Argentina's deadliest terrorist attack to date.

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The Jewish Agency held a special ceremony on Wednesday to honor the victims of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community office building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. July 18 marked the 27th anniversary of the attack, which claimed the lives of 85 people.

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The event was attended by more than 200 young men and women who came to Israel from Argentina and other countries to be trained as emissaries. The attendees planted a tree on the Jewish Agency's campus in Jerusalem in memory of the victims.

"The ceremony honoring the memory of those killed in the horrific attack is another step in the partnership between Diaspora Jewry and the State of Israel," Acting Chairman of the Jewish Agency Yaakov Hagoel said.

Since its establishment in 1929, the Jewish Agency has been working to connect Jews abroad to Israel by sending hundreds of emissaries annually to communities worldwide, "in order to secure a vibrant Jewish future for generations to come."

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A twin suicide bombing killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 30 in a Baghdad market on Thursday in the first such attack in years, security and medical sources said.

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Suicide bombings have been rare in the Iraqi capital since the defeat of Islamic State in 2017. The last took place in January 2018.

The Iraqi military said two attackers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up among shoppers at a crowded market in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad, adding that several people had been killed.

An interior ministry spokesman told Reuters the death toll was at least 13, saying that number was expected to rise as some wounded were in critical condition.

Baghdad has witnessed almost no such attacks since Iraqi forces and a US-backed coalition drove the Islamic State group from territory it controlled in Iraq in 2017.

The last deadly suicide blast in the Iraqi capital took place in January 2018, also at Tayaran Square, killing at least 27 people.

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Richard Holzer, 28, pleaded guilty to attempting to stop people from exercising their religion with an explosive or fire and attempting to destroy a building used in interstate commerce in a plea deal with prosecutors.

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While each of the two crimes carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors in return promised not to ask a judge to impose a sentence of more than 20 years when Holzer is sentenced Jan. 21.

Holzer was arrested Nov. 1, 2019 after receiving phony pipe bombs and dynamite from undercover FBI agents he had been meeting with.

One agent posing as a white supremacist had reached out to him online after seeing Holzer's social media posts promoting white supremacy and violence, according to the facts agreed to by both sides as part of the plea deal.

As he accepted the fake explosives hours before he planned to use them at Pueblo's Temple Emanuel synagogue, Holzer, displaying a Nazi armband and carrying a copy of Mein Kampf in his backpack, the plea deal said.

Holzer also allegedly thanked the agents for their efforts and called the planned attack a "move for our race," the document said.

After his arrest, Holzer told police that he did not plan to hurt anyone by bombing the synagogue in the middle of the night, but acknowledged he would have gone ahead with his plan if the building had been occupied because anyone there would be Jewish, the plea deal document said.

The Temple Emanuel is the second oldest synagogue in Colorado. It was built in 1900 largely by descendants of immigrants from central and eastern Europe.

In a statement about the deal, Colorado US Attorney Jason Dunn called the law enforcement effort on the case "the most important work that we can do – protecting our communities by stopping an attack before it occurred."

Holzer's guilty plea is a reminder that hate crimes will not be tolerated in the state, Scott Levin, the director of the Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region said.

"Hate crimes damage the social fabric of our society and fragment communities. It is critical that those who seek to harm others because of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation or any other defining characteristic, be held accountable for their crimes," he said.

According to the league, the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in Colorado increased 56% from 2018 to 2019.

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It is both a political movement and guerrilla army, drawing its support from among Lebanon's Shiite population. The group and its allies helped form Lebanon's current government.

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Hezbollah's arsenal has been a major point of contention. The group says its arms are needed to deter Israel and, more recently, to guard against Islamist insurgents in Syria.

Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the US, Canada, Germany, Britain, Argentina, and Honduras as well as the US-allied, mainly Sunni Muslim Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The EU classifies Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist group, but not its political wing.

Shadowy groups, which Lebanese security officials and Western intelligence say are linked to Hezbollah, launched suicide attacks on Western embassies and targets and kidnapped Westerners in the 1980s. A suicide bombing destroyed the US Marine headquarters and French military barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 US servicemen and 58 French paratroopers. One group, Islamic Jihad, was thought to be led by Imad Mugniyeh, a senior Hezbollah military commander killed – possibly by Israel – in 2008 in Syria.

Argentina blames Hezbollah and Iran for the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died in 1994 and for an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that killed 29 people. Both deny any responsibility.

Bulgaria accuses Hezbollah of carrying out a bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists in the Black Sea city of Burgas in 2012.

In government

2005: Hezbollah entered Lebanese politics more visibly after the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and Syria's withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon. A coalition of anti-Syrian factions took power following an election which gave Hezbollah 14 seats in the 128-seat parliament.

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2006: Hezbollah and its allies quit a government led by Western-backed prime minister Fouad Siniora over the governing coalition's refusal to give the opposition effective veto power.

2008: Hezbollah clashed with domestic foes and briefly seized west Beirut, in the worst civil strife since the 1975-1990 civil war, after the government vowed to take action against the group's military communications network. After mediation, rival leaders signed a deal to end 18 months of political conflict.

2011: The war in Syria lead to years of political paralysis in Lebanon. In January, the first government of Saad al-Hariri, Rafik al-Hariri's son, was toppled when Hezbollah and its allies quit over a UN-backed tribunal for the murder of al-Hariri. Six months later, Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced a government dominated by Hezbollah and its allies.

2016: Saad al-Hariri, who spent years abroad due to security fears, struck a deal, making Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun president, and himself premier. Saad al-Hariri's ties with backer Saudi Arabia, furious at Hezbollah's expanding role, hit a nadir in 2017.

2018: Hezbollah and its allies won a parliamentary majority.

2019: Protests broke out against a deep economic crisis. Hariri quit in October. Hezbollah and its allies backed Hassan Diab as premier. He formed a new government in January 2020.

In conflict

Until 2000, Hezbollah waged a prolonged guerrilla campaign against Israeli forces in the security buffer zone in south Lebanon.

UN Security Council Resolution 1559, sponsored by the United States and France and adopted in 2004, called for all Lebanese militias to be disbanded and disarmed. Hezbollah is the only militia to keep its arms since the civil war.

2006: Hezbollah crossed the border into Israel, kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and killed others, sparking the five-week Second Lebanon War in which 1,200 Lebanese were killed and 158 Israelis were killed.

2012: Hezbollah fighters deployed in Syria to aid Syrian government forces facing a mostly Sunni rebellion against Assad. The group played a major role in beating back the rebellion.

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The Judea and Samaria network operated under the leadership of senior PFLP members who directed the attacks that the various cells carried out.

Members of the PFLP are responsible for the terrorist bombing at the Danny Spring near Dolev that killed Rina Shnerb, 17, this past August, and left her father and brother seriously wounded.

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Members of the PFLP network arrested in the course of the operation include the head of the cell that perpetrated the attack that took Shnerb's life: Samer Arbid of Ramallah, who has already been in prison for terrorist activity on behalf of the organization. Arbid enlisted the other members of the cell, built, and set off the improvised bomb. Arbid was arrested along with Yazan Maghamas, 24, who was involved in several other attacks, and Qassem Shibli, 25, from the "terror village" of Kobar, who also carried out a number of shooting attacks.

When members of the Judea and Samaria network were interrogated, they revealed that it was behind a number of shooting attacks and was in the process of planning large-scale attacks for the near future. Israeli security personnel arrested some 50 members, including a senior official in the PFLP in Judea and Samaria, and seized a large stock of weapons that the terrorists had been holding.

The Shin Bet seized M16s and other types of assault rifles, handguns, silencers, and various types of fertilizer intended to be used in building bombs, as well as ammunition. Security personnel also found radios and batteries to be used to detonate explosives remotely. Much of the weapons had been stored in the home of a relative of Arbid.

The detainees provided the Shin Bet with information about the attacks that they had been planning and detailed the process of planning and executing the lethal Danny Spring attack. Cell members told investigators that they had begun collecting intelligence a few weeks before the attack and had visited the spring several times to scout the territory. Arbid reviewed and approved the final plan.

The interrogation also exposed additional acts of terrorism for which the PFLP in Judea and Samaria was responsible, including a shooting attack on an Israeli bus near the settlement of Ofra in December 2017 and a shooting attack on an Israeli car near Ariel in March of this year.

Many of the detainees have been indicted on serious charges, with more indictments expected to be filed.

A senior Shin Bet official said that the intelligence and investigative work had "thwarted terrorist attacks slated to be carried out in the near future."

According to the official, if the Shin Bet and the rest of the security forces had not managed to put their hands on the cell members, the planned attacks would have claimed numerous Israeli lives.

"The Shin Bet investigation exposed the real and present danger from Popular Front [terrorist] activity, as well as the security danger from the Popular Front's 'organizational' activity. The amount of weapons seized and the information we gained in the interrogation highlight how dangerous this network is and how prepared [they are] to carry out more, deadly terrorist attacks," he said.

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The Department for Transport said "improvements in security procedures at the airport, and close co-operation between the UK and Egypt on aviation security, mean commercial airlines can now be allowed to operate routes to and from the airport."

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"We look forward to services to Sharm el-Sheikh resuming, and lifting the restriction is the first step in that process," said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, stressing that the "safety and security of British nationals remains our top priority."

Sharm el-Sheikh, a top resort on the Sinai Peninsula, had been a major package-holiday destination for British tourists before the November 2015 attack, which and was claimed by the Islamic State group.

Since the attack, Egyptian authorities have spent millions of dollars to upgrade security at airports across the country.

Travel company Tui welcomed Britain's decision and said it planned to re-introduce trips to Sharm el-Sheikh, "taking into account customer demand."

Egypt also welcomed the decision. The country's civil aviation ministry said in a statement that it was a "step forward in a new stage of more flights for UK holidaymakers to all Egyptian airports."

Tourism Minister Rania el-Mashat hailed the decision as a "message to the world that Egypt is safe" and that it would have a "positive impact" on British tourists heading to Egypt.

Egypt's vital tourism industry has been showing signs of recovery lately, after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak. The downing of the Russian passenger jet was the final blow.

Airline easyJet said in a statement: "We are aware of the lifting of the restriction on UK airlines flying into Sharm el-Sheikh Airport and will look at any opportunities for easyJet and easyJet Holidays as a result."

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Shnerb's father and brother were seriously wounded in the attack.

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The home belongs to Yazen Hassin Hasni and is located in the Jams neighborhood of Bir Zeit, north of Ramallah.

Hasni, 25, is an active member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and lives in Ramallah. He has been arrested for involvement in terrorist activity and was part of the planning and execution of the bombing at Danny Spring.

Three other members of the terrorist cell behind the attack were arrested last month. The head of the cell, Samer Mina Salim Arbid, was hospitalized in serious condition during his interrogation.

All the terrorists hail from the Ramallah area and are active in the PFLP.

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Shnerb's younger sister, 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, was killed in the attack.

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Dvir and his father, Eitan, were both evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Dvir was admitted to the hospital trauma unit in an induced coma and attached to a respirator. Immediately upon arrival, he underwent surgery to repair shrapnel wounds to his stomach.

After being stabilized, Dvir and Eitan remained hospitalized for a week.

Dvir expressed his thanks to the Hadassah Ein Kerem medical staff as well as to the first responders who arrived at the scene of the bombing. He will have come back to the hospital for follow-up visits and further medical treatment.

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