Israeli Ynet News reported Monday that the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) conducted an investigation that led to the arrest of thirty Hamas operatives, in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, who allegedly tried to renew Hamas’s armed operations in the West Bank.The Ynet added that the Shin Bet conducted an extensive investigation into the issue, and that the 30 operatives belong to several armed groups, mainly members of Hamas.
The report further claimed that Hamas is trying to increase its chances of winning any future elections in the Palestinian Authority, and that Hamas fighters managed to create cells in West Bank universities, and managed to transfer money to Hamas detainees, and their families.
The report also claimed that the 30 operatives maintained contact with the Hamas leadership abroad, using different means, including messengers, memory cards, email and different aliases.
It also claimed that some of the detained operatives allegedly participated in the killing of two Israeli soldiers who were held at a Palestinian Police Station in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, during the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in late 2000.
The Ynet said that the operatives are facing charges that include membership in an illegal group, employment in an illegal group and carrying out services for it, contacting an enemy, and illegally transferring funds.
Israel claims that among the detainees are Morad Khaled Abu Baha’, allegedly the head the new cell of Hamas, Mohammad Hasan Abdullah Dahla, in charge if the central sector of the cell in Ramallah, Maher Ayyoub Abdul-Jalil Dalaysha, in charge of the group’s finances, Mosab Mohammad Ahmad Srour, in charge of the students sector, Amro Nihad Abu Ghosh, in charge of the group in areas north of Ramallah, and Adnan Yousef Omar Shouman, in charge of the detainee’s branch of the group.
