Key members of a Hamas cell suspected of some of the most devastating bomb attacks inside Israel in the two years of the Palestinian uprising - including the recent bombing at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem - were captured on Saturday night, Israeli security officials claimed yesterday.
The officials said the east Jerusalem-based cell carried out eight attacks in recent months in which 35 Israelis were killed and dozens injured. They said they cracked the cell after two members were seized on their way to an attack in central Israel, another was taken at a checkpoint and two more were captured after a chase in Jerusalem. In total, 15 people were arrested.
One alleged cell member, Mr Mohammed Odeh, is suspected of having planted the bomb which exploded on July 31st in the main cafeteria at the university, killing nine people.
Mr Odeh, who worked at the university as a house painter, is alleged to have scaled the fence the night before the attack, hidden the bomb, then walked through the main gates with his permit the next day, placed the explosive device and detonated it from a distance with a cellular phone.
In a bizarre twist, Mr Odeh was said to have received a telephone call the day after the attack, asking him to come and help repaint the scorched cafeteria.
Mr Samr Odeh yesterday strenuously denied his brother's involvement in the attacks, saying that, "My brother just goes from home to work . . . and has nothing to do with any other thing." As residents of east Jerusalem, four alleged central members of the cell had Israeli identity cards, giving them freedom of movement.
Since the start of the Palestinian uprising the number of Israeli- Arabs involved in attacks has risen, but it is still small relative to the size of the Arab minority of 1.2 million.
The Israeli claims, however, are likely to further shake the increasingly frayed relations between a Jewish population traumatised by suicide attacks and an Arab minority which feels disriminated against and marginalised.
Officials claimed the cell also was responsible for a suicide attack at the Moment Cafe in downtown Jerusalem in March in which 11 people were killed, and the May suicide bombing of a billiard hall in Rishon Letzion, near Tel Aviv, in which 15 people died.
"I assumed that things below the surface were not as [calm as\] they seemed," said Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, referring to the fact that few east Jerusalem residents had been involved in attacks since the start of the intifada.
A phased Israeli-Palestinian truce plan, which went into effect on Monday with the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Bethlehem, was rocked again yesterday, as troops backed by tanks and helicopters raided the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza, killing one Palestinian and injuring several others.
A man was crushed to death when a wall collapsed on him after Israeli troops blew up two buildings in the camp from which they said gunmen had been firing at Jewish settlements. An Israeli soldier was killed on Tuesday by a sniper firing from the camp.