JERUSALEM – Two Palestinian terrorists wounded at least three people in a stabbing attack near the Jaffa Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday.
The stabbing comes as Israel’s Shin Bet security service announced it had arrested members of a large Hamas terrorist cell in the West Bank planning mass casualty suicide bombings and other attacks inside Israel.
In Wednesday’s stabbing incident, female Border Police officers reportedly shot the two terrorists, but not before the assailants critically wounded three people, one critically. One terrorist was killed on the spot and the second later died of his wounds.
According to Israel’s Ynet news website, one of the wounded may have been mistakenly shot by a Border Police officer.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Shin Bet announced it had carried out a joint operation with the IDF and Israel Police in which 25 Hamas members were arrested as part of a terrorist cell based in Abu Dis, a West Bank village near Jerusalem. Most of the suspects were students at Al Quds University in Abu Dis.
The cell was led by a 24-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank named Ahmed Azam, who set up an explosives lab in a rented apartment in Abu Dis, according to the Shin Bet indictment.
During the course of the investigation, a second cell consisting largely of Al Quds students was discovered in Bethlehem, including some who had been successfully recruited to carry out suicide bombings.
The Shin Bet announced that Azzam was working on behalf of Hamas in Gaza “to set up a military infrastructure that would carry out bombing attacks against Israeli targets.”
Azzam “was in continuous contact with his operators in the Gaza Strip, who trained him to be an explosives expert for the purpose of manufacturing bomb vests and explosive devices,” the Shin Bet statement said.
“In accordance with instructions passed on to Azam, he recruited a number of additional operatives studying with him at the Abu Dis university in order to purchase material to produce explosives, rent apartments, recruit suicide bombers, and get them to infiltrate Israel.”
The Shin Bet said an examination of the lab discovered in Azzam’s apartment found “it was ready to manufacture explosives of different types, in significant quantities.”
The Shin Bet said it had seized raw materials for making bombs, including materials banned in Israel.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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