Hamas Terrorist Indicted for Attempted Murder of IDF Soldiers, Partnership in Tunnel Smuggling Operation
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by Ruthie Blum
A Hamas terrorist. Photo: Wikipedia.
A Hamas terrorist was indicted in Israel for a number of serious crimes, among them the monitoring and attempted murder of IDF soldiers, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Sunday.
According to the report, there were 18 specific charges in the indictment against 24-year-old Medhat Abu Sneima.
“The defendant and others observed military targets along Israel’s border with Gaza; followed the movements of IDF forces; and placed explosives on IDF jeeps, with the aim of causing the death of IDF soldiers,” the indictment said. In addition, the Hamas operative and his friends launched missiles and mortars at IDF posts and at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom — next to the Gaza-Egypt-Israel border — and that it was only due to a “miracle” that no soldiers’ lives were lost.
Abu Sneima also participated in Hamas military drills, practiced the use of various weapons and trained as a sniper, according to Channel 2.
In 2014, Abu Snema became part-owner of a smuggling tunnel from Egypt to Gaza, for a sum of $7,000. Through this tunnel, military uniforms were transferred to weapons dealers in Gaza, for which he received some $2,000 per month. Ultimately, the tunnel was flooded by the Egyptians.
This indictment is part of a wider operation being conducted by the IDF and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security services, to apprehend terrorists working with Hamas and other groups, amid increasing threats to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers and civilians. This is in spite of what Israeli security sources have said is a decrease in the number of “lone wolf” attacks — such as stabbings and car-rammings — perpetrated predominantly by residents of east Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority-controlled territory in the West Bank.
The indictment also comes on the heels of a rally held Thursday in Gaza, during which Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh lauded West Bank Hamas member Abdel Hamid Abu Srour for having committed the April 18 bus bombing in Jerusalem, in which at least 21 commuters were wounded and Srour was killed.
