Israeli media sources reported that the security forces of president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank prevented Hamas fighters from firing a homemade shell, manufacture by Hamas in Ramallah, and handed the shell to Israel.The sources added that the security forces arrested the Hamas cell before its members managed to fire the shell.
Israeli paper, Maariv, reported Monday, that the security forces of Abbas arrested a Hamas cell in Ramallah, in the central West Bank, two weeks ago and that the cell was preparing to fire a Qassam shell into an Israeli settlement.
The paper added that the fighters who were interrogated by the security forces of Abbas “confessed that they are members of the al-Qassam Brigades, and also confessed that they were preparing to fire the shell into Israel.”
The arrested fighters are from Beit Seera and Beit Liqya villages, near Ramallah.
They were reportedly planning to fire the shell at the Modi’in Settlement, built on Palestinian lands in the Ramallah district.
A total of seven Qassam members were arrested after the security forces located the shell ready to launch.
The Israeli Army Radio reported that security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah led to several “developments” under the supervision of US General Keith Dayton.
Hamas says that this coordination led to the assassination and the arrest of several Palestinian resistance fighters.
