Israel’s Shin Bet security service has reiterated that Hamas in Gaza “exploits” permits for residents to enter Israel for commercial reasons. Its proof is its arrest, announced on Thursday, of an Israeli Arab citizen with family in the Gaza Strip and a resident of the Gaza Strip with a commercial permit to enter Israel suspected of spying on Israel, including its Iron Dome missile defense system, for Hamas.
The two men, Israeli citizen Hasin Biari, 30, and Gaza resident Mahmoud Ahmed, 33, were arrested on November 29 and indicted on Thursday after an investigation into their activities. The agency said in a statement that the two men were recruited by a Hamas espionage and terrorist cell in the Gaza Strip that operates agents inside Israel and met with their Hamas handlers while they were in the Gaza Strip in order to receive their missions.
Ahmed had been collecting information on Iron Dome systems throughout the country since 2019. In addition to gathering information on military bases, IDF soldiers and Iron Dome systems throughout the country, Biari was also requested by Hamas to incite the Arab population in Israel against the state, acquire weaponry and carry out a terrorist attack on Israeli territory, the Shin Bet said.
The investigation, has “uncovered the fact that Hamas is exploiting the border crossings in order to advance terrorist activity in Israel and is causing people to put their families – in Israel and in the Gaza Strip – at risk,” the Shin Bet stated.