Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian terrorist cell which carried out a bomb attack in May against IDF soldiers near Hizmeh, just north of Jerusalem, in which an IDF officer was severely wounded.
The officer, Lt. Shahar Roditi, sustained wounds to his face, head and upper body. He was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in the capital and was operated on for 12 hours.
The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) on Sunday cleared for publication that the five-member terror cell had prepared additional explosive devices and planned to commit an additional attack in the Maaleh Adumim area.
One device had been fitted with a cellphone. The devices were stored in a dental clinic run by one of the terrorists in Kfar Akab.
In total, Israeli forces uncovered 56 small pipe bombs in various stages of assembly, two firebombs and a large u-shaped pipe bomb. All devices were evaluated by experts as having deadly potential, the Shin Bet said.
The terror cell’s composition included dentists and middle-aged individuals, shattering the widespread and false belief that Palestinian terrorism is only committed by youth driven to despair due to unemployment and supposed hardship.
Members of the terror cell. (Shin Bet)
The cell included Dr. Samer Mahmoud Daoud Alhaliba, 36, a resident of Abu Dis, a dentist, and the lead terrorist. He placed and operated the explosive device by means of a cellphone.
His father, Mahmoud Daoud Shehada Alhaliba, 63, a resident of Abu Dis, a hospital nurse, was arrested for hiding evidence in his son’s clinic.
Dr. Dagana Fayiz Jamil Navahan, 36, a resident of the Qalandia, a dentist, was arrested for aiding and abetting.
Dr. Daoud Shehada Mahmoud Alhaliba, 41, a resident of Abu Dis, a dentist, brother of the terrorist, was arrested for removing the explosive devices in the terrorist’s clinic.
Shadi Muhammad Ahmed Mohsen, 32, a resident of Abu Dis, cousin of the terrorist, was also arrested for removing the explosive devices in the terrorist’s clinic.
The investigation revealed that the terrorist, Dr. Samer Alhaliba, began to plan the attacks in February 2016 in response – in his words – to the supposed “desecration of [the] Al Aqsa [mosque on the Temple Mount] and Israeli attacks on Palestinian children.”
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel