Hamas in the West Bank. Photo: Wikipedia.

JNS.org – Israel’s Shin Bet security agency announced on Sunday the arrest of two Palestinian men who had planned to carry out terror attacks on behalf of Hamas in the West Bank.

A joint operation between the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) led to the arrest of Muhammad Azi, 20, from Jamain, and Nur Aldin Ghait, 22, from Hebron.

Azi and Ghait had planned to carry out terror attacks by shooting at civilian and IDF vehicles. In preparation for the attacks, the Hamas suspects surveyed local roads and prepared to place nails in the road, hoping to force Israeli vehicles to slow down. The suspects produced and tested improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to throw at Israeli cars.

According to the Shin Bet, the suspects also “planned to put a propane tank rigged to explode at the entrance to a village and detonate it on a military vehicle.”

The arrests occurred as part of a broad terror crackdown in the West Bank by the Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police. The collaborative effort between Israel’s security agencies has unveiled multiple Hamas terror cells operating throughout the region.

In addition to the arrests of Azi and Ghait, Israel’s security services recently arrested several students from Birzeit University near Ramallah who were actively involved in a Hamas-affiliated Islamist terror cell, which, according to the Shin Bet, operated “pursuant to Hamas’s efforts to establish itself on the ground.”

A Shin Bet investigation revealed that the cell members had previously “planted IEDs and threw firebombs at IDF units,” were involved in a shooting incident at Har Adar in 2015, and planned to carry out other similar attacks.