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Israel busts cell for producing weapons in east Jerusalem

Xinhua, April 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli security forces uncovered machinery for producing weapons in an overnight operation in a Palestinian village in east Jerusalem.

The Israeli police, in a joint operation with the Shin Bet security agency and the Israeli military, found two machineries used to produce weapons and pipe bombs, along with large amounts of ammunition, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

One person was arrested during the operation, and the two machineries are set to be destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later on, according to Samri.

Abu Dis is a Palestinian village in east Jerusalem. It is one among many Palestinian villages in east Jerusalem that were annexed by Israel, after Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 Mideast War. About 300,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem.

In December, security forces discovered an explosives lab in Abu Dis, along with the capture of a "terror cell" of 25 Palestinians, amid suspicions they were about to carry out suicide bombing attacks against Israelis, led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, which had fought against Israel in several campaigns in the Gaza Strip in the past several years, instructed its members in the West Bank to carry out attacks against Israelis late last year, amid an ongoing wave of attack between Israelis and Palestinians which started in October, and claimed the lives of 28 Israelis and 200 Palestinians.

Hamas called its members to renew suicide bombing attacks against Israelis, which were common in the mid-90s and early 2000s, during the days of the second Palestinian armed uprising (intifada).

With that, Hamas on Wednesday claimed responsibility for an attack on a Jerusalem bus on Monday.

Twenty one people were injured in the attack. On Wednesday evening, one of the critically wounded had died from his wounds. He was not identified, and later was said to be the Palestinian who carried the attack on Hamas's behalf.

This is the first attack of its kind amid this wave of unrest, which Israel blames on Palestinian incitement, whereas the Palestinian charge it is the result of the ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip since 1967. Endit