(Communicated by the Police Foreign Press Liaison)
August 27, 1995
The GSS, in cooperation with the Israel Police, have recently uncovered the commanders and planners of the gangs which carried out the terrorist attacks at Binyanei Ha'uma in Jerusalem on 25 December 1994, and at the Nahalat Shiva pedestrian mall in Jerusalem on 9 October 1994.
Following the arrests of those responsible for carrying out the recent attacks in Ramat Gan and Jerusalem, and in wake of intensive investigations by GSS agents, an extensive HAMAS organization throughout Judea and Samaria -- and including eastern Jerusalem -- has been uncovered.
The arrest of the organization's members foiled a number of murderous attacks that the members of the gang had intended to carry out; preparations for several of these had already been completed.
Attacks that members of the gang intended to carry out included:
- A suicide attack at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station,
- A suicide attack on a civilian bus in the Tel Aviv area,
- Kidnapping two soldiers in order to conduct negotiations for the release of HAMAS prisoners,
- Killing a settler in the Samaria region in order to steal his weapon,
- Planning an attack by planting a bomb on a train in the Jerusalem area,
- Killing a settler as he arrived in the Gaza Strip in his truck.
During the investigations, it was found that one of the most important terrorists arrested, Hatem Ismail, a Gaza resident, was involved in planning the Binyanei Ha'uma attack, in which 13 people were injured.
The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, a resident of the Gaza Strip, who was killed during the attack. Ismail brought the bomber to the site of the attack, along with a resident of Abu Dis, Amin Sider (who has been arrested); they gave the explosives -- which had been prepared previously -- to the bomber in order to carry out the attack.
Amin Sider has also confessed that he had transported the terrorists who carried out the Nahalat Shiva attack, and gave them the military equipment with which they carried out the attack. During thorough questioning carried out by the GSS, in cooperation with the Israel Police, a widespread Iz a-Din Al Kassam infrastructure was uncovered. As of now, several activists in Judea and Samaria have been arrested.