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The Palestinian use of ambulances and medical materials for terror |
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Jerusalem, December 22, 2003
The Palestinian use of ambulances and medical materials for terror
(Communicated by Israel security sources)
Since September 2000 the security forces are witnessing the cynical use by terror organizations of the Palestinian medical resources in general and of ambulances in particular, assuming they are 'immune' to security checks at checkpoints.
The use by the terrorist organizations of medical resources, particularly ambulances, in order to bypass the searches and security checks in IDF checkpoints emphasizes the need for a security check of medical vehicles. Such searches are conducted in order to ensure that ambulances are not used by terrorists in an attempt to transport terrorists, weaponry and explosive devices.
One of the most prominent incidents is the suicide bombing attack on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem on January 27, 2002, in which one Israeli civilian was killed and over 100 were injured. The suicide bombing was carried out by Wafa Idris, a resident of the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah. Idris served as a medical secretary for the Palestinian Red Crescent. Following investigation by security forces, it appears that the suicide bomber was dispatched to carry out the attack by Muhamad Hababa, a resident of the village of Beit Iksa near Ramallah, a Tanzim operative and an ambulance driver of the Palestinian Red Crescent. Also involved in the terror attack was Munzar Nur, a resident of Anabta, near Tulkarm, who worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent as well.
Incidents in which ambulances were used for terrorist activities:
On March 27, 2002 IDF forces arrested Islam Jibril, a Tanzim operative at a checkpoint near Ramallah. Jibril, born 1971, a resident of the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, worked as an ambulance driver in the Palestinian Red Crescent. Jibril was arrested while driving a Red Crescent ambulance containing an explosive belt and explosive devices. During his investigation Jiblril confessed that the bombs were handed to him in Nablus by Mahmud Titi, a senior Tanzim operative in the Samaria area who was killed by security forces. The explosive belt was hidden underneath a stretch carrying a sick Palestinian boy aside his family members.
Investigation has revealed that during March 2002 several Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah were using ambulances in order to move from one spot to another. The terrorists were wearing medical uniforms and some of them used city hospitals as a hiding place.
In October 2001 Israeli security forces arrested Nidal Nazal, resident of Qalkilya, a Hamas terrorist and the brother of Nasser Nazal - a senior Hamas terrorist in the city. Nidal worked as an ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent. In his investigation Nidal confessed to the transfer of weaponry for terrorists and using his freedom of passage granted to him due to the fact that he was an ambulance driver. Furthermore, Nidal used this privilege in order to act as a messenger of Hamas HQ in different Palestinian cities.
In a document seized during Operation Defensive Shield, it was noted that weapons were concealed in the floor of an ambulance. In an another document it is noted that the Palestinian general intelligence service used an ambulance to transfer a suspect from Husan to Bethlehem.
The use of chemical materials for terrorist acts
Rashid Tareq El-Nimr, resident of the village of Hawara, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, worked for different hospitals in Nablus and Bethlehem. Nimr is the nephew of Faruk Kadumi, head of the political department of the PLO. Nimr was arrested by Israeli security forces on November 24, 2003 and confessed in his investigation that he provided chemical materials for the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Nablus, by using his access to such materials in the framework of his job in a hospital. These chemical materials, primarily intended for a medical use, were used by the Hamas in Nablus as raw material for making bombs.
Nimr also mentioned that a few months earlier he met Haled Abu Hamed, a wanted Hamas terrorist, resident of Nablus, through another Hamas operative who used to hide in the Nablus hospital where he worked. Haled asked Nimr to obtain chemical materials from the hospital for the Hamas, in order to develop explosive devices. In several meetings that took place, Rashid provided Haled with six cans of hydrogen peroxide, for NIS 3,600. Haled hid the fluid in an apartment in Nablus and told Rashid, "In the next few days a large-scale explosion will take place." Hydrogen peroxide is used for producing TATP-type explosive materials used in the past by Hamas in numerous suicide bombings, causing the death of dozens of Israelis. It is important to note that the improvised explosive material is very volatile and might explode in a populated area.
A month prior to the arrest of Nimr, he met with Said Kutub, a Hamas terrorist, who gave him a sum of money to purchase of additional gallons of oxygen fluid. At the beginning of November 2003, Nimr began to work in a Bethlehem hospital. During that time Kutub continued to request materials for Hamas and guided him in locating a shelter in which he could to hide the materials.
Two days prior to Nimr's arrest, Kutub asked him to obtain sulfuric acid nitric acid, materials used for producing an advanced explosive, nitroglycerin. Nimr said that since he was a well-known Nablus hospital worker, he managed to purchase a sufficient amount of materials without any hospital approval, saying that the materials are used for hospital supply. Nimr said he used an ambulance in order to transfer two gallons of hydrogen peroxide to the ambulance company's offices in Nablus, from where Kutub took them home.
During his stay in Bethlehem, Nimr could not manage to obtain sulfuric acid nitric acid but he told Kutub that when he would be able to obtain the materials, he would transfer them in an ambulance.
Bachar Bilel, a senior Hamas terrorist arrested by Israeli security forces in October 2003, testified in his investigation that it is very easy to transfer chemical materials from Israel to the Judea and Samaria area. Furthermore, Bilel said that a year earlier at a meeting of dozens of wanted Palestinians from the old city of Nablus, one of the wanted Palestinians said that he has a permanent way of smuggling chemical materials from Israel. Bilel added that wanted Palestinians are in contact with drivers who smuggle the materials from Israel. The drivers receive a permit in coordination with the Civil Administration and the factories they work for in the West Bank, which allows them to travel with the materials according to an order of the exact amount of type and amount. The drivers are familiar with the workers in the factories in Israel and bribe them into loading an additional amount of material. The approved amount of materials is taken by the drivers to the factories and the additional amount of materials is sold by them to wanted Palestinians in Nablus. |
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