AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Palestinians in suicide bomber outfits in 2002

The Shin Bet said the terror operation was masterminded by Ahmed Fathi Omar Hajjaj, an expert bomb-maker who lives in the Gaza.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Israel’s National Security Agency (Shin Bet) foiled a Palestinian terror cell based in Judea and Samaria planning to carry out suicide bomb attacks and other bombings against Israel, the Shin Bet announced on Monday.

Members of the cell arrested on Dec. 14 were from the Palestinian towns of Jenin, Tulkarem and Kabatiya. Israeli security forces seized a bomb in one of the raids.

According to the Shin Bet, the cell’s operatives were acting under the direction of Gaza’s Popular Resistance Committee — a coalition of armed terror groups — and another Gaza-based terror group called Shahada Al-Aqsa.

The Shin Bet said the terror operation was masterminded by Ahmed Fathi Omar Hajjaj, an expert bomb-maker who lives in the Gaza.

The Shin Bet said that it holds Hamas as ultimately responsible for all terror activity from Gaza. Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, when it violently seized control of the Strip.