The killing of two terrorists last night by an IDF force in the northern Shomron prevented a large-scale attack in Israel. The two were Islamic Jihad members who had planned to carry out their attack within a day or two.
Miracles appeared to continue this afternoon when an IDF force thwarted an attempt to blow up an army vehicle. The soldiers discovered two 80-kilo bombs buried under a road near Netzarim, designed to explode under a passing Israeli tank. Sappers neutralized the potentially destructive devices. Two similar but smaller bombs were found and neutralized in the same area yesterday... An IDF force blew up a large explosives lab today in Kabatiye, in the northern Shomron...
Meanwhile, International Affairs Correspondent Michael Freund reports that senior Palestinian Authority official Nabil Sha’ath has said that both American and European Union officials have been holding secret contacts with Hamas, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported. Citing a report in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam, the agency quoted Shaath as saying, “The Europeans have informed us about the meeting with Hamas in Beirut and asked us not to talk about it in public. They apparently were pleased with the positive trends within Hamas,” he said.
Sha’ath also asserted that there had been unspecified “contacts” between Hamas and American officials, though he did not elaborate.
The US State Department has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization, while the EU late last year also recognized the Islamic fundamentalist group’s military wing as a terrorist organization.
Miracles appeared to continue this afternoon when an IDF force thwarted an attempt to blow up an army vehicle. The soldiers discovered two 80-kilo bombs buried under a road near Netzarim, designed to explode under a passing Israeli tank. Sappers neutralized the potentially destructive devices. Two similar but smaller bombs were found and neutralized in the same area yesterday... An IDF force blew up a large explosives lab today in Kabatiye, in the northern Shomron...
Meanwhile, International Affairs Correspondent Michael Freund reports that senior Palestinian Authority official Nabil Sha’ath has said that both American and European Union officials have been holding secret contacts with Hamas, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported. Citing a report in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam, the agency quoted Shaath as saying, “The Europeans have informed us about the meeting with Hamas in Beirut and asked us not to talk about it in public. They apparently were pleased with the positive trends within Hamas,” he said.
Sha’ath also asserted that there had been unspecified “contacts” between Hamas and American officials, though he did not elaborate.
The US State Department has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization, while the EU late last year also recognized the Islamic fundamentalist group’s military wing as a terrorist organization.