Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian man at a hospital in Halhul north of Hebron in Judea and Samaria overnight Wednesday who was wanted in connection to an attempted car bombing last month.
Members of the Border Police’s elite Yamam counter-terror unit and Israel Security Agency raided the hospital in a joint operation with the Israel Defense Forces.
According to the ISA, the suspect was involved in and wounded by the detonation of a car bomb in Halhul on Aug. 13. He was taken to a hospital in the city, from which he was taken into custody.
The security establishment believes the suspect is associated with the Hamas terrorist group, according to Ynet.
On Sept. 2, Israeli forces neutralized a car bomb near the entrance to the town of Ateret in Binyamin. Security officials believe that the 100-pound explosive was intended to detonate as a school bus passed by.
There were no casualties in the attempted attack, which Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz called a “great miracle.”
Days earlier, Hamas had praised as a “heroic operation” the wounding of three Israelis in Judea’s Gush Etzion by car bombers.
On Aug. 19, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue to carry out suicide bombing attacks “as long as Israel continues its massacre and policy of assassinations in Gaza.”
