A criminal organization may have carried out the grenade attack against the Health Ministry in Nazareth on Monday in retaliation for law-enforcement activities in the Arab sector, according to Israeli media reports.
No one was injured in the attack, which occurred late at night, but there was significant property damage, according to videos on social media.
The attack was not connected to threats against Health Ministry officials in recent months over coronavirus and vaccine policies, according to the police, Haaretz reported. Rather, it was in retaliation for the ministry’s cooperation with law-enforcement activities in food stores and butcheries with ties with criminal organizations.
“There have been attempts at responding to the police pressure with this and similar actions,” Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Kobi Shabtai said at the ministry’s office in Nazareth on Tuesday. “It will not deter us; we will continue to pursue whoever did it.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the police said they had made the single largest arrest of illegal arms dealers in Israel’s history after a yearlong covert operation.
“There have been attempts at responding to the police pressure with this and similar actions,” police chief Kobi Shabtai said while visiting the ministry’s office in Nazareth on Tuesday. “It will not deter us; we will continue to pursue whoever did it.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Police announced that it had made the single largest arrest of illegal arms dealers in Israel's history after a year-long covert operation.
The raid on the criminal organization in the Arab sector resulted in the seizure of 40 rifles, 13 pistols, two machine guns and two explosives linked to a cell phone.
A total of 65 suspects from 25 different localities across Israel have been arrested, among them a father and his three sons who started this family arms dealing business.
The Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.