Jerusalem, 17 February, 2022 (TPS) — Israeli authorities have revealed for the first time that a resident of Gaza, who was permitted to enter Israel on humanitarian grounds, was a Hamas operative caught trying to arrange acts of terrorism in the country.
A joint security operation of Israel’s General Security Service (GSS) and the Israel Police Negev Squad was conducted on January 24. During the action, a 24-year-old Gaza resident named Ahmad Abu Al-Nur, who had entered Israel with a permit for medical treatment, was arrested for overstaying the allotted time and being in the country illegally.
An investigation found that in 2009 Al-Nur was drafted into the military wing of Hamas, and that he took part in training and military activities against the State of Israel. He was even a member of Hamas’ secret organization.
Al-Nur’s activities as a member of the Hamas, as well as the vast knowledge that he held about the group, provided the investigators with a unique opportunity. Their investigation revealed a great deal of intelligence about the operations of Hamas including, but not limited to, the locations of its tunnels, weapons depots and military positions from which the organization operates.
The GSS investigation also revealed that he used his stay in Israel to pass on intelligence to his commanders in the Hamas security apparatus (the General Staff), and also made unsuccessful attempts to recruit new Hamas operatives in Israel.
All the materials of the investigation have been transferred to the Southern District Attorney’s Office, and in the coming days the State Attorney’s Office is expected to file an indictment against Al-Nur in the Beer Sheva District Court.
Israeli authorities said that this matter is yet another example of how Hamas cynically exploits people like this for its activities. Its General Staff and its secret security apparatus take advantage of humanitarian permits granted to residents of Gaza to promote terrorist activities in Israel.
The government stressed the point that it has only recently expanded significantly the number of such entry permits into Israel as part of Israel’s effort to improve the civilian economic situation in the Gaza Strip.
The GSS said that it takes any such attempts of terrorist and espionage activity emanating from the Gaza Strip very seriously and that it will continue to work together with the Israel Police and the IDF in order to detect and thwart any hostile activity on the part of terrorist organizations in Gaza.
Matan Peleg is the chairman of the “Im Tirzuu” (If You Will) movement, which revealed that more than 3,000 Gazans reside illegally in Israel. In response to this report, he said, “There is no justification for increasing the permits that are used time and time again for terrorism and violence.”
“Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Arabs from Gaza are roaming the territories of Israel, whose whereabouts the army does not know,” he added. “This is a serious and immediate danger, and therefore everyone must be apprehended and a policy must be implemented that aims first and foremost to protect the security of the residents of Israel.”