The Shin Bet security service has recently uncovered three networks of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank that are suspected of being responsible for a series of terror attacks that killed five Israelis and wounded about 70, the Shin Bet said Monday. The security service has arrested 117 Hamas men suspected of involvement in the three networks, which the Shin Bet says are located in the Ramallah area, north of Hebron and southwest of Hebron. Two of the terror attacks were carried out in the last few months, in violation of Hamas' official commitment to maintain "calm" in the territories. These include the September abduction and murder of Sasson Nuriel, from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev, and the suicide bombing at the central bus station in Be'er Sheva at the end of August, in which two security guards were seriously wounded.
Senior Shin Bet officials said Monday that while Hamas has continued to carry out attacks, despite its stated commitment to calm, in general the group has recently avoided taking responsibility for the attacks because it prefers not to anger the Palestinian Authority and Israel. In light of the information the Shin Bet has collected about Hamas activities, the security service has recently recommended that Israel change its policy toward Hamas. As a result, security forces have carried out several arrest raids, netting hundreds of Hamas men, after several months during which Israel avoided acting against Hamas.