​(Communicated by the ISA and the IDF Spokesperson)
 
The following has been cleared for publication:
 
On 12 March 2018, the IDF (Israel Navy) and the ISA detained ten Palestinians, residents of Rafiah, aboard a fishing boat that had strayed beyond the fishing zone, on suspicion of collecting intelligence for – and planning – an attack on an Israel Navy vessel.
 
In the course of an ISA and Israel Police investigation, it was learned that one of the detainees, Amin Saadi Muhammad Jumaa, born in 1994, a fisherman, is an Islamic Jihad terrorist who – on instruction from his superiors in Rafiah – who had taken part in planning a multi-ship attack against an Israel Navy vessel.
 
From the investigation of Jumaa, it was learned that the plan was for one boat to serve as a decoy and lure the naval vessel toward it while a second boat attacked the naval vessel with a Cornet ship-to-ship rocket in order to kill and wound crew members. A third boat would then approach the naval vessel in order to abduct the sailors aboard for an exchange of captives.
 
It was also learned that Jumaa had – in the course of planning for the attack – observed naval vessels on several occasions in order to gather intelligence.
 
The State Attorney's Office (Southern District) will indict Jumaa today (Wednesday, 4 April 2018), in the Be'er Sheva District Court.
 
This was an additional link in a series of recent terrorist attacks planned and initiated by Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip including the tunnel into Israel that was demolished on 30 October 2017, mortar fire at Israel on 30 November 2017 and mortar fire at communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip on 28 December 2017, as well as additional attacks.
 
The above once again proves that the terrorist organizations are trying to exploit the civilian easements that Israel has repeatedly tried to enact vis-à-vis fishing in order to advance terrorist attacks that also harm the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
 
The security forces – on land, sea and air – will continue their counter-terrorism efforts.