Security forces have arrested 14 members of an Islamic Jihad terrorist group from Bethlehem who is suspected of blowing up a bus in Bat Yam in December 2013, it was cleared for publication on Thursday.
According to the Shin Bet, during their interrogations, the detainees admitted that in recent months the group decided to carry out a mass killing in Israel.
All together fourteen suspects were arrested.
The four central suspects arrested are Muhammad Shehadeh Shehadeh Tamari, 24, Hamadi Muhammad Shehadeh Tamari 21 and brother of Shehadeh, Sami Omar Sami Harimi 20 and Yossef Nasser Yousef Salameh, 23.
The bomb was created by the Hamadi brothers, Shehadeh Tamari and Joseph Salameh. They used 2 kg of improvised explosives, nails and screws and attached it to a cellular operating system for remote operation.
The bomb was delivered to Sami Harimi, hidden inside in a black handbag , and on the morning of Dec 22 he traveled to the Southern Hebron hills and illegally crossed over the border.
Sami then got into the car of a Bedouin citizen of Israel and was driven, along with other men that had crossed with him, to Jaffa. After praying in a mosque, Sami got on Dan line 240, put the bomb in the center of the bus and got off the bus. A few minutes later he called the cellular device attached to the bomb to set it off.
During his interrogation Sami, who was arrested in Bethlehem on Dec 26 2013, stated his intention to commit a larger act of terror in the Tel aviv area around the same time period. His arrest prevented him from doing so.
During the interrogation of Hamadi, police uncovered 20 kg of explosives hear his home.
The investigation is still in progress and more arrests are expected.