JERUSALEM, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Israel said Wednesday it had uncovered an attempt by Hamas to sneak into the West Bank an explosive expert in order to establish an explosive lab there.
Israel's Shin Bet security service said in a statement that the expert was trained for a year by the military wing of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement that runs the Gaza Strip.
He was identified as Fadi Abu al-Sabah, a 35-year-old resident of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The police apprehended him on May 18 in Tayibe, a Palestinian city in central Israel, but his arrest was kept under a gag order until Wednesday.
He entered Israel on a humanitarian permit in order to receive medical treatment, according to the Shin Bet.
"This activity was exposed following a series of recent arrests of militants who had been recruited by the military wing of Hamas in the Gaza Strip," the statement read.
His arrest was one in several recent attempts by Hamas to establish "a number of terrorist cells" throughout the West Bank in order to carry out attacks against soldiers and settlers, the Shin Bet said.
The arrest came amidst spiraling tensions between Israel and the Palestinians amidst the failed attempt by the United States to revive the peace talks. In June, the White House presented the first part of its plan for peace in the region, but it was rejected by the Palestinians and most Arab countries.
