Shin Bet Director Nadav Argman
Photo: Hillel Meir/TPS
Shin Bet chief warns 'Hamas relentlessly attempting terror attacks'
Nadav Argman tells Knesset committee despite apparent 'calm on ground in Palestinian arena,’ real scale of terror is deeper under the surface ‘and the coming days will show that'; highlights drop in successful terror attacks, but stresses rise of attempted attacks.
Shin Bet Director Nadav Argman warned Sunday that Hamas "is relentlessly trying to carry out terror attacks" in the West Bank, and said that despite successes in thwarting attacks, the number of attempted attacks is on the rise.
"The Palestinian arena over the past year has been very unstable. Both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria, especially after Trump’s declaration, and the coming days will show that,” Argaman told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Palestinian riots after Friday afternoon prayers (Photo: AP)
“The calm is misleading, there's stirring on the ground, and Hamas is relentlessly trying to carry out attacks in Judea and Samaria and undermine the stability of the Palestinian Authority," Argaman said.
“The coming days will tell whether the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas will succeed and what the significance is for all of us,” he added.
Shin Bet Director Nadav Argman (Photo: Hillel Meir/TPS)
Argaman also noted that "the number of attacks over the past year has dropped, but the amount of attacks thwarted has increased. We thwarted 400 significant attacks, 13 of them suicide attacks, eight abductions and 94 'sacrifice' attacks."
According to the Shin Bet director, the security organization foiled 1,100 potential lone wolf attacks. “This notwithstanding, 54 lone wolf attacks succeeded compared to 108 the preceding year,” he said as he continued to list the fresh statistics on the fruits of the Shin Bet’s actions.
Riots on the Gaza broder (Photo: Reuters)
“Overall, the scale of thwarting operations in impressive, but this is only an example that explains the scale of terror underneath the surface,” he warned.
Israeli security forces have been on high alert in anticipation of Palestinian violence that has continued to rage since Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
Two Palestinians were killed in on the Gaza Strip border by IDF rounds on Friday afternoon, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as thousands of Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces in the strip and throughout the West Bank following the conclusion of Islamic Friday prayers, in yet another 'day of rage' over Trump’s declaration.
