Israeli charged on suspicion of aiming to assist Hamas in Gaza

An indictment was filed on Friday with the Haifa District Court against an Israeli citizen from Tamra in the Lower Galilee, for allegedly contacting Hamas’s “military” wing in the Gaza Strip, among other security-related offenses, police said.

Sultan Abu al-Hija, 31, was apprehended on Aug. 28 in a joint operation carried out by the Israel Police Northern District Central Unit, Border Police officers and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet).

Investigators found that the suspect had contacted Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades on several occasions with the aim of covertly assisting them, according to police.

It further emerged that he had made contact with Iranian intelligence elements but was arrested before he could carry out missions for them.

In a separate statement on Friday, police said that an Israeli citizen named Hamdan Hamdan, 32, a resident of Majd al-Krum in the Upper Galilee, was recently arrested on suspicion of committing security offenses involving contact and the carrying out of missions on behalf of a foreign agent from Lebanon.

The investigation found that Hamdan was aware that he was communicating with a foreign agent, and that attempts were made to provide him with payment by having the foreign party purchase goods in Israel and transfer them to the citizen, the statement read. An indictment against the suspect is expected to be filed on Sunday.

Mob attack suspects arrested

Meanwhile, two Palestinian suspects involved in an attempted mob assault of a mother and her son after they accidentally drove into Jenin in northern Samaria in August have been arrested, the Israel Police said on Thursday.

Their arrest was carried out by the Israel Police Judea and Samaria District Central Investigations Unit and the Shin Bet, and indictments against the pair are expected shortly, police said.