(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)

In a joint IDF and Border Police arrest operation this evening in Bethlehem, Border Police Special Forces identified several Palestinian gunmen in a vehicle. The force fired at them and identified killing four gunmen. An MP5 and two M16 rifles were discovered on their bodies. The four were wanted senior wanted terrorists from the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization:

Muhammad Shahade Abed Ta'amari, 45, was the head of the Islamic Jihad in Bethlehem and was involved in several terrorist attacks in which many Israeli civilians were wounded and killed, including:

2 Nov 2000 - The car bombing on Shomron Street near the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem which killed two civilians.

27 Mar 2001 - The car bombing in the Talpiyot neighborhood in Jerusalem in which 5 civilians were wounded.

5 Dec 2001 - The suicide bombing attack at the Hilton Hotel in Jerusalem in which 6 civilians were wounded.

17 Mar 2002 - The suicide bombing attack in the French Hill neighborhood in Jerusalem in which 31 civilians were wounded.

1 Apr 2002 - The shooting attack in the Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem in which an IDF soldier was killed.

The three other wanted terrorists, Ahmed Khalil Salem Balbul, 48, Imad Hasin Mahmud Kamil, 35, and Isa Marzuka Saleh Zuhara, 36, were a part of the Islamic Jihad leadership in Bethlehem and were also involved in extensive terrorist activity from the beginning of the Intifada.

Muhammad Shahade and the Islamic Jihad in Bethlehem were in direct contact with the Islamic Jihad leadership in Syria from which they received operational orders.