Palestinian militant with rifle > atphalix, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Israeli security forces on Sunday arrested eight Palestinian students suspected of planning an imminent terror attack.
The students, from Birzeit University near Ramallah, were arrested following an investigation into Hamas cells in Palestinian education institutions, the IDF said.
The students were allegedly recruited by Hamas operatives in Gaza, and had received weaponry intended for a planned attack.
Officials said some of the suspects had confessed to the allegations.
The move came on the same day that three Palestinian terror groups announced plans to escalate their activity against Israel and increase collaboration between them.
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine made the statement after a meeting of top officials in Beirut.
They expressed their pride in ongoing West Bank attacks on civilians and soldiers, calling them “bold, heroic operations that confuse the occupation soldiers and settlers and exhaust them.”
Sunday saw three reported shooting attacks in the West Bank; one in near the Hinanit settlement and two in the Tulkarem area.