​(Communicated by the ISA)
 
The following has been cleared for publication:
 
The Israel Security Agency (ISA), in conjunction with the Israel Police and the IDF, has arrested several Hamas members in the Ramallah area who are suspected of having received tens of thousands of Euros, which were hidden throughout Judea and Samaria and were designated for Hamas activities.
 
On 7 March 2018, undercover Border Police officers, at Bir Zeit University, arrested Hamas member Omar Kiswani – a resident of Beit Iksa, 24, chairman of the student council on behalf of a Hamas-affiliated student group – for questioning by the ISA.
 
The ISA investigation showed that Kiswani was in contact with Hamas member Yassin Rabia, who had been expelled to the Gaza Strip in the context of the Shalit deal, as well as with Hamas members in Turkey, and had sought funds to advance Hamas activity at Bir Zeit University.
 
Rabia subsequently transferred to him approximately 150,000 Euros which were concealed in several locations throughout Judea and Samaria. Kiswani collected the money along with his friend and fellow Hamas student association member Yahya Alawi, 20. The two used the funds to promote Hamas activities.
 
The foregoing is yet another example of efforts by Hamas commanders in Turkey and the Gaza Strip to advance Hamas activities in Judea and Samaria by bringing in money and hiding it in various locales in order to fund its local infrastructures.
 
The investigation points to the deep involvement of Hamas members in Turkey and the Gaza Strip in efforts to advance Hamas activities in Judea and Samaria.
 
Exposing the efforts of Kiswani and Alawi further underscores the high importance Hamas command ascribes to student activities in its affiliated groups in order to recruit and train members in Judea and Samaria.
 
The case also underscores the great danger involved in such activity and its status as a significant additional arm of Hamas, the goal of which is to harm the State of Israel, despite its taking place at an institution of higher learning.
 
In 2017 a Gaza Strip-based Hamas cell was uncovered which had recruited Bir Zeit University students to perpetrate suicide attacks. Additional Hamas student group members have recently been discovered as having sought to commit shooting attacks in the Ramallah area.