Israeli security forces recently broke up a smuggling ring transporting “hazardous materials” to terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria, the Israel Police said on Thursday night.
Following a months-long undercover investigation led by the police’s Lahav 433 National Unit for International Crimes, in cooperation with the Border Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), security forces thwarted the smuggling of fertilizer to terrorists in the Gush Etzion region of Judea.
The fertilizer—prohibited for sale as it can be used to manufacture explosives—was allegedly sold by a 66-year-old Israeli from Moshav Pedaya in central Israel. According to the investigation, the substances were transported by a resident of eastern Jerusalem and were meant to be delivered to two Palestinian terrorist buyers from Hebron.
However, the truck, which contained hundreds of bags of hazardous materials, was intercepted at the Gush Etzion Junction on Route 60.
“As part of the investigation, we managed to prove that these materials were systematically and regularly smuggled for years by the suspects,” said Supt. Maor Goren, the head of the Lahav 433’s explosives unit.
“In addition, we managed to prove that, at the end of 2024, the materials smuggled into the [Judea and Samaria] territories reached terror groups and were used in two car bombings in the Gush Etzion area—all with the suspects’ knowledge,” Goren added.
סוכלה הברחת חומרים מסוכנים לגורמי טרור באיו"ש – חוקרי יאחב"ל בלהב 433 עצרו ארבעה חשודים pic.twitter.com/4dEGe8DJ6A
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) May 29, 2025
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a “militia” of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah Party, claimed responsibility for a double car bombing in the Gush Etzion region on Aug. 30, 2024.
In the first attack, a bomb was detonated at a gas station near the Gush Etzion Junction, prompting the IDF to dispatch soldiers to the scene. The terrorist opened fire on the troops, who killed him. A soldier was moderately wounded and an officer was lightly hurt in the exchange.
Shortly thereafter, a terrorist rammed his car through the gate to the nearby town of Karmei Tzur. A security guard drove after the terrorist and crashed into his vehicle, before getting out and shooting and killing him. The terrorist’s car exploded, and the guard was lightly wounded.
On Thursday, authorities announced their intent to indict the four smuggling suspects. The notification is required before the Central District Prosecutor’s Office and Israeli military prosecutors can file charges and request that the suspects be held in custody until the end of the legal proceedings against them.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO in February.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
The figures, which were cross-checked against official data from Israel’s security services, included 3,668 instances of rock-throwing, 843 firebombings, 671 attempts to blind drivers with laser pointers, 526 explosive charges, 364 cases of arson and 179 terrorist shootings.
The rescue group also recorded 37 attempted or successful stabbings, 36 bottles of paint being thrown at vehicles and 19 Palestinian car-ramming attacks, including 12 that caused injuries to Israelis.
The report noted that the Shin Bet foiled more than a thousand major attacks across the Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem areas.
