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IDF Spokesperson/TPS-IL on 17 June, 2025
Over 60 Hamas Operatives Arrested, Foiling 10 Terror Cells Planning Attacks
Jerusalem, 29 June, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Israeli security forces arrested more than 60 Palestinian Hamas operatives in a sweeping counterterrorism operation that uncovered extensive attack plots, weapons caches, and underground infrastructure across Judea and Samaria, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police said on Sunday.
According to the Shin Bet, interrogations of the detainees led to valuable intelligence that enabled further arrests and helped foil at least 10 terrorist cells, many of them centered in the Hebron area, which were actively planning attacks.
“This is the largest and most extensive investigation case that the Shin Bet has thwarted in Judea and Samaria in a decade,” a senior Shin Bet official said.
Security forces confiscated 22 firearms of various types, 11 grenades, and large quantities of ammunition. Among the discoveries was an underground hideout used to conceal weapons and shelter wanted operatives.
The investigation further solved a several longstanding terror cases. Among those arrested was a terrorist involved in the deadly 2010 shooting at the Bnei Naim intersection in the Hebron Hills. That attack killed four Israelis: Yitzhak and Tali Ames, Kochava Even Haim, and Avishai Schindler. Other suspects tied to the same Hamas infrastructure were also apprehended.
In another breakthrough, Israeli authorities arrested individuals linked to a November 2023, shooting at the Jerusalem tunnel checkpoint, where Corporal Avraham Patna was killed. Several of the detainees were reportedly responsible for supplying the weapons used in that attack.
The Hamas network’s secretive structure, in which each terror cell operated independently, presented major challenges for Israeli intelligence. Despite these hurdles, the Shin Bet said its ability to break the organizational compartmentalization was key to preventing what could have been a wave of coordinated mass-casualty attacks.
“Most of the members of the infrastructure were previously imprisoned in Israeli prisons and are experienced in interrogations. The exposure of the infrastructure that was conducted in secret, while maintaining compartmentalization between the various cells, constitutes a significant thwarting of Hamas’ intentions to carry out a series of serious attacks in Israel,” the senior Shin Bet officer explained.
Authorities say additional arrests and legal proceedings are expected as the investigation continues.
