(Communicated by Israeli security sources)
In a joint IDF, ISA and Police operation on June 11, 2006, two members of the Popular Resistance Committees terror organization were arrested. The two, under instructions from Jamal Abu Samhadana, were on their way to carry out a shooting attack against Israeli civilians and to kidnap an IDF soldier, in order to negotiate the release of terrorists jailed in Israeli prisons.
Ibrahim Jamal Mahmad Magdoub, 22, a resident of Sheikh Raduan in the Gaza Strip, and Mohammed Ali Omar Assar, 20, a resident of Nuserat in the Gaza Strip, were arrested as they attempted to infiltrate Israel through the
Israeli-Egyptian border.
Magdoub stated in his questioning that he infiltrated Israel in order to transport Assar to a location where he would carry out a shooting attack, while he would kidnap an IDF soldier in order to negotiate the release of security prisoners. The negotiations were to be led by the leadership of the PRC, headed by Jamal Abu Samhadana, who planned these attacks before his death.
Several weeks before Magdoub left for Egypt, he met with Samhadana who told him that the purpose of his infiltration of Israel was to kidnap and murder Israeli soldiers in the Tel Aviv area. This would be done with the help of other terrorists from the Gaza Strip who would join him several days after his arrival. Samhadana instructed that following their murder, the soldiers would be buried in the orchards of Rishon Letzion, where one of the cell members was living as an illegal worker. The cell was instructed to retrieve the soldiers' documents which they should send to him by fax or messenger into Gaza. The PRC would then claim responsibility for the kidnappings and demand prisoner releases for information on the soldiers' whereabouts.
Samhadana tasked Magdoub with transporting a suicide attacker into Israel. Magdoub and Assar, the designated attacker, were to acquire the weapons for the attacks from PRC terrorists in West Bank.
In his questioning Assar stated that he had met with Samhadana in the beginning of June 2006. Samhadana asked him to infiltrate Israel in order to carry out a shooting attack against Israeli civilians. Before Assar's departure to Israel he underwent training in firearms and grenades.
Samhadana explained to Assar that he intended to smuggle him into Israel with the assistance of other PRC terrorists, where PRC members from the West Bank would join him, provide him with the rifle and ammunition and lead him to the location of the attack. In this meeting Assar was filmed reading from his will and claiming responsibility for the attack in the name of the PRC.
Mohammed Assar and Ibrahim Magdoub traveled to Egypt separately through Rafah crossing, where they met up and headed for Israel. The two were arrested on June 11th as they crossed into Israel.
The PRC terror organization has continued to launch attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings, projectile rocket attacks, shooting attacks and bomb attacks against IDF forces. These attacks were often planned and sponsored by the Hamas terror organization. The PRC essentially became the Hamas' operatives as Hamas attempted to portray itself as upholding the "period of calm".
In the past week the PRC terror organization claimed responsibility for two kidnappings:
- An IDF soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was kidnapped on June 25th following a joint PRC and Hamas attack on an IDF post near the security fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. An IDF officer and an IDF soldier were killed in the attack. Shalit was taken to the Gaza Strip.
- Eliyahu Asheri, an Israeli youth, was kidnapped and murdered on June 25th by a Tanzim cell which operated in the West Bank under the direct guidance of the PRC in Gaza. The youth's body was found in a field on the outskirts of Ramallah on June 28th.