(Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)

The ISA has recently uncovered a terrorist cell in the Gaza Strip that was operated and financed by Hezbollah. The cell was established in Khan Yunis by Shadi Abu Alhatzin, who was arrested by Israel on 15 December 2003, and who intended to perpetrate an attack against an Israeli community in the Gaza Strip with an explosives-laden model aircraft. The cell maintained links with other terrorist organizations in the area, especially those linked with Fatah, such as the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Shadi Abu Alhatzin, married and the father of two children, was born in Yemen in 1981 to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother. He lived with his family in Yemen until about 10 years ago, when he arrived in the Gaza Strip, via Lebanon. Since then, he lived in the Khan Yunis refugee camp without a residence permit.

Alhatzin admitted that he learned how to use explosives as a boy and continued his studies regarding explosives after arriving in the Gaza Strip. He also studied pharmacology at the Khan Yunis technical college and joined the Fatah-affiliated “Shabiba” movement. His pharmacology studies furthered his knowledge of explosives and war materiel.

Alhatzin said that he first became exposed to the possibility of joining Hezbollah in the wake of watching programs on the organization’s Al Manar television station, which listed an email address and phone number for those interested in joining Hezbollah. In 2000, he made contact with Hezbollah via a maternal uncle, Hassan Dukmak, who lives in Lebanon and belongs to the organization. At first, Dukmak sent funds to his nephew in order to finance his military activities; he later passed him on to another Hezbollah handler.

Alhatzin admitted that since he was recruited into Hezbollah, he has worked at its behest to establish a Hezbollah cell in Khan Yunis in order to perpetrate terrorist attacks. He said that his cell has perpetrated several rocket, mortar and shooting attacks in the Gaza Strip, including one aimed at an IDF position near Ganei Tal.

Alhatzin said that he was instructed by Hezbollah in preparing and developing bombs, rockets and anti-tank missiles and added that his cell received several thousand dollars from Hezbollah. The money was due, in part, to be used in purchasing machine tools for use in the production of war materiel and in supporting the families of arrested terrorists. Since 2002, the cell carried out attempts to build an explosives-laden model airplane in order to attack an Israeli community in the Gaza Strip.

Alhatzin’s links with Hezbollah were carried out via email; in this manner, Alhatzin would receive instructions from his Hezbollah handlers.

In order to improve the Khan Yunis cell’s capabilities, Alhatzin tried twice during 2002 to send emissaries from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon for military training. The emissaries - Bassam Abu Nimr, 38, from Khan Yunis and Ismail Garabeli, 30, from Rafiah - were arrested by Israel upon their return to the Gaza Strip from Egypt. They admitted that they were supposed to undergo military training in Lebanon. Garabeli said that while in Egypt in July 2003 he had met with a Hezbollah representative who gave him $700 and ordered him to leave for Turkey in order to meet Hezbollah members there. His trip to Lebanon did not work out and he returned to the Gaza Strip in August and was arrested.

Alhatzin said that during 2003, he had met in Khan Yunis with a Hezbollah emissary, from Lebanon who had come to instruct the cell on communications. The emissary added that he had also been sent to coordinate the smuggling of war materiel from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip for Alhatzin’s cell, as well as for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Hamas’s Izadin Al-Kassam units and other terrorist organizations.