An Arab Israeli man was indicted on Thursday on terrorism-related charges for throwing a firebomb at a police station in Haifa on Dec. 24, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police said.
According to a joint statement, 20-year-old Razi Hamada, from Shfaram in the Western Galilee, attempted to torch the station in support of the Hamas terrorist group.
A few weeks earlier, he allegedly planned to set fire to the area surrounding Haifa’s oil refineries and chemical plants.
Hamada was initially arrested for driving without a valid driver’s license but later confessed to authorities.
The investigation found that Hamada, who acted alone, was motivated by the war against Hamas in Gaza and after watching anti-Israel propaganda, including Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network.
There are numerous refineries and petrochemical facilities in the Haifa Bay area, where much of Israel’s plastics are produced. In mid-January, Hezbollah terror master Hassan Nasrallah claimed Iran-backed militias in Iraq fired a cruise missile at Haifa Port.
In 2022, the Israeli government approved a plan to phase out the industrial zone for safety reasons.
בתום חקירה של שב"כ ומשטרה כתב אישום הוגש נגד המחבל ראזי חמאדה, ישראלי תושב שפרעם, שניסה להצית תחנת משטרה ולבצע שורת מעשי טרור מתוך הזדהות עם ארגון הטרור חמאס.
— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) February 1, 2024
בין היתר: השלכת בקבוק תבערה לעבר תחנת משטרת שפרעם ב 24.12.23.
וכן תכנן להצית שריפה בסביבת בתי הזיקוק בחיפה.@MakorRishon pic.twitter.com/SYZCMcIERg
On Monday, an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded in a car-ramming and stabbing terrorist attack near a naval base in Haifa.
According to reports, a car drove into the 20-year-old victim, after which the perpetrator got out and attacked him with an ax.
The terrorist was identified as Wassim Abu al-Hoga, an Arab Israeli from Tamra in the Lower Galilee. Al-Hoga had a criminal record for illegally transporting people—presumably Palestinians—into the Jewish state, the Israel Police said in a statement.
Earlier this month, 79-year-old Edna Blustein was killed and 17 other people were wounded in a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the central city of Ra’anana.