After weeks of frustration, Israeli security forces have scored a major victory against terrorist gangs of the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement, arresting members of a group held responsible for a string of murders.
Israeli security sources say they are holding 22 members of the Izz a-Din al-Kassam group, a military branch of Hamas, most of whose leadership was deported to Lebanon three weeks ago.
The detainees have confessed to killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding six others, in four shooting attacks between October and December last year, according to military sources.
News of the detentions came four days after the brutal murder of Shin Bet security agent Haim Nahmani in the heart of Jerusalem, apparently by a Hamas informer.
Announcing the arrests Wednesday, the commander of the Hebron region in the West Bank said 30 more Hamas suspects are being sought in the area.
Col. Yossi, whose last name was not released, would not comment on whether Israeli forces had captured the murderers of Nahmani and border policeman Nissim Toledano.
The Dec. 13 abduction and murder of Toledano was the immediate trigger for Israel’s expulsion of 415 Moslem fundamentalist activists to Lebanon.
GANG HEADED BY STUDENT LEADER
The deportations, which elicited widespread condemnation, would prove to be justified, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said as news of the arrests was announced.
The terror group was uncovered in the wake of the arrest in November of Jawad Baher, a 34-year-old teacher in Hebron, who led investigators to other suspects.
When the General Security Service, as Shin Bet is formally known, detained five more suspects Tuesday, it was decided to announce the successful exposure of the terror gang.
Most of the suspects live in Hebron. Some are from the Gaza Strip but were staying in the Hebron region.
The gang’s 26-year-old leader, Sheik Salah Arouri, is a member of the student council at the Islamic College in Hebron. He comes from the village of Aroura in the Ramallah region.
Gang members met regularly in rented apartments and in mosques in Hebron, sources said. Tens of thousands of dollars were transferred to them from the Gaza Strip to finance operations, including the purchase of cars.
The gang members have confessed to the murder in Hebron last October of Israeli army reservist Shmuel Geresh and to firing shots at a military vehicle near the city at about the same time, wounding two soldiers.
They also reportedly confessed to throwing hand grenades at an army vehicle in Hebron in November. The grenades never exploded.
Members of the gang reportedly surrendered a large number of weapons and explosives.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
