Leaked Israeli intelligence information revealed the arrest of a large cell of 60 members who confessed that Hamas had plotted to carry out major attacks against Israeli targets to make Israeli army invade the West Bank and stir chaos that would eventually cause the fall of the Palestinian Authority.
The information, parts of which were published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, and others in a report by the Information Center on Intelligence and Terrorism attributed to Major General Meir Amit in Tel Aviv, said that Hamas - in parallel with its negotiations through the Egyptian mediator for calm with Israel and reconciliation with the PA - was working in two directions: the first, preparing for a missile war with Israel by developing its missile stockpile and its advanced drones, and second by plotting bombing operations.
The report claimed that Hamas was trying to strengthen its position in the region to force Israel to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and find a new understanding mechanism in the West Bank.
The Intelligence Center confirmed that the movement’s “attempts to encourage terrorist operations in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), while maintaining relative calm in the Gaza Strip and trying to push the settlement forward, were aimed at harming Israel on the one hand, and strengthening Hamas’ position within the Palestinian regime, by challenging the PA and harming its ability to govern, on the other.”
“Hamas’ efforts to activate terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria are ongoing. Most of them were thwarted at an early stage by Israel, sometimes with the help of the PA, but other times the movement succeeded in carrying out deadly attacks,” the intelligence center reported.
