Israel security forces revealed on Wednesday the thwarting of a terrorist plot to blow up the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv, following a month-long undercover investigation.
The Israel Police and the Israeli Security Agency arrested five suspects, residents of Tayibe, an Arab-Israeli city located in central Israel, in connection with the plot, Channel 12 reported.
The suspects, in their 20s, identified with Islamic State, or ISIS, which conquered large areas of northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014, only to lose control in 2019 to a combination of Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. forces.
The terrorists’ plan included a shooting attack and car bombing to bring down the towers. According to the investigation, the suspects watched videos of terror attacks in Syria and debated the quantity of explosives needed to bring down the towers.
An indictment is expected to be issued in the coming days.
The Azrieli Center consists of three towers, triangular, square and circular, ranging in height from 505 to 613 feet. A fourth, spiral tower is under construction.
The two leaders of the terror cell, Mahmoud Azam and Ibrahim Sheik Youssef, intended to visit ISIS combat zones and were in contact with members of the organization. They recruited three others—Sajed Masarwa, Abdullah Baransi and Abdel Kareem Baransi.
The suspects chose the Azrieli Center as it is a high-traffic area and includes a popular mall. They also allegedly planned to carry out other attacks.
An Arab Israeli also carried out the stabbing spree in Hadera on Wednesday. Ahmed Jabarin, 36, from Umm Al-Fahm, stabbed six people in three locations in the city before being wounded by a security guard and taken into custody.
One of his victims, Raphael Mordechai Fischhof, 35, died on Thursday despite intensive medical efforts to save him. He was the father of six children.
