Tel Aviv, Israel – Israeli authorities said on Tuesday that they have arrested in late March a ring of Islamic militants who planned to set off a massive car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Passover Jewish holiday.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
A statement by the Shin Bet security agency said that agents and troops arrested 19 members of the violent Hamas group from the West Bank town of Qalqiliya connected with the plot, in which a suicide bomber drove a car laden with 220 pounds of explosive into the Tel Aviv area but did not detonate the charge.
Details of the arrests were only cleared for publication on Tuesday, the day after the weeklong holiday ended.
The statement said the Palestinian driver was able to enter Israel unhindered because he has an Israeli Arab stepmother and holds an Israeli identity card and the car had Israeli license plates. But for reasons not yet clear, the man turned around and returned to Qalqiliya , where the car blew up through a technical malfunction. Nobody was injured. [AP]
והיא שעמדה לאבותינו ולנו שלא אחד בלבד עמד עלינו לכלותינו