Israel accuses Hamas of building explosives lab in West Bank

Israel has announced that it foiled a Hamas plan to establish an explosives lab in the West Bank, warning that Hamas still seeks to extend the armed resistance from Gaza to Ramallah.
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Palestinian members of Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, display homemade rockets during a military parade in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 21, 2016. - REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Adnan Abu Amer
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The Shin Bet revealed July 3 that it had arrested 35-year-old Fadi Abu al-Sabeh in the Israeli city of Tayibe in May. The intelligence service said Abu al-Sabeh entered Israeli territory under the pretext of receiving medical treatment, but that the Palestinian explosives expert trained by Hamas' armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades was sent to set up an explosives lab in Israel. 

The news comes amid a wave of arrests in the West Bank. On July 8, the Israeli army arrested 32 Palestinians, including Hamas leaders and members as well as former prisoners, in Qalqilya, Bethlehem and Jenin.

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