Danny Gonen's car shortly after deadly shooting
Danny Gonen's car shortly after deadly shootingCredit: Yossi Eisenstein/News 24

The IDF raid which resulted in the arrest of the terrorist who murdered Israeli hiker Danny Gonen, along with several accomplices to the crime, was the result of a tip-off - by none other than the murderer himself.

A police source has revealed to Arutz Sheva details of the bizarre call, received by the 100 Emergency Hotline not long after the deadly shooting.

"The first clue was when the terrorist called to the 100 Hotline about a week and a half after (the attack), and said that he had carried out a terrorist attack," the source said.

"Usually after terrorist attacks there are all sorts of pranks, but the (police) dispatcher suspected this was something more than a prank."

The dispatcher passed on details of the call to the security services, who immediately launched an investigation which eventually tracked the terrorist to his home. The source noted that were it not for the intuition and quick thinking of the dispatcher the investigation would likely still be ongoing.

The terrorist has been identified as 30-year-old Mohammed Abu-Shahin, a resident of Kalandia and an operative of the Palestinian Authority's elite Force-17. As a Fatah member and PA employee, Abu-Shahin receives a monthly salary from the PA.

Abu-Shahin has served time in Israeli prison in the past for carrying out terrorist attacks.

It is unclear precisely why he made the call to emergency services - whether to genuinely confess or in an attempt to mock authorities - but after being detained he quickly admitted to having committed the murder.

Under interrogation Abu-Shahin admitted to having taken part in six separate terrorist attacks in 2014, among them several shootings, including a shooting attack last November in Jerusalem's A-Ram neighborhood in which an IDF soldier was lightly wounded.

He further confessed to planning future shooting and stabbing attacks.

Abu-Shahin also led investigators to several of his accomplices, one of whom was released in the 2011 Shalid Deal with Hamas, in which more than 1,000 convicted terrorists were released in exchanged for a single IDF soldier held in Gaza.