The IDF declined to provide information on reasons for arrest.
By YAAKOV LAPPINUpdated: APRIL 25, 2016 23:39A masked Palestinian boy wearing the headband of Hamas's armed wing takes part in a rally marking the 28th anniversary of Hamas' founding in Gaza City(photo credit: REUTERS)
Four Hamas members were arrested in two West Bank raids in the Hebron area on Monday.The IDF declined to provide details on the cause for the arrests, and did not answer a question on whether the raids were launched to thwart an imminent terror plot.According to the IDF’s statement, army units arrested two Hamas members in Hebron, and two additional Hamas men in Dahariya, southwest of the city. “We are not providing further details on those arrested,” an army spokeswoman said.On April 21, near the beginning of the seven-day-long Passover holiday, the military imposed a general closure on the West Bank and shut down the Gaza border crossings.On the same day, police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed that a Palestinian bomber who attacked a bus in Jerusalem was a 19-year-old Hamas-affiliated resident of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. Several Hamas members from the area were arrested within 24 hours of the blast, which injured 20 passengers.Earlier this month, a senior military source said security forces quietly foiled a large number of Hamas mass-casualty terrorism plots forming in the West Bank recently, often at a very advanced stage of preparations.The officer said the IDF Judea and Samaria Division, together with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), encountered a continuous series of attempted attacks orchestrated by Hamas.“Often we thwarted them at a very advanced stages, involving bomb labs that we recently raided. What characterizes these cells is funding by organizations and a desire to carry out a ‘quality attack.’ We encounter M-16s and Kalashnikovs. Many of the plots are aimed at shooting attacks.”There have been more than 10 attempts to carry out kidnappings of Israelis since October, he stated.