JERUSALEM (JTA) — Six members of an alleged Jewish terror cell were arrested and admitted to carrying out attacks against Palestinians, the Shin Bet security service said.
The cell members, from the Binyamin region of the West Bank, were arrested in recent days on suspicion of setting Palestinian vehicles on fire, throwing firebombs at Palestinian homes and assaulting Palestinians, the Shin Bet said in a statement released Wednesday after lifting a gag order on the arrests.
Three of the members, who are all from the same settlement, are in their early 20s and two are teenagers; the other is a soldier.
Police confirmed the six had been arrested and said they would soon be charged.
The alleged attacks took place in the Gush Talmonim area near Ramallah. In addition to confessing to the crimes, some of the cell members reenacted their actions at the scenes of the attacks, the Shin Bet said.
The Shin Bet described the cell as “extreme and violent” and said it “systematically harmed Palestinians and their property, with full knowledge that human lives could be harmed, even after the result of the arson attack on a home in Duma.”
The July firebombing of a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Duma killed a Palestinian baby and his parents, and seriously wounded his brother. The Shin Bet said the attack was an “inspiration” to the suspects.
The investigation, which began last month, was a joint effort by the Shin Bet and the Nationalistic Crimes Division of Judea and Samaria district police.
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