Israel says it arrested Palestinian cell in Jenin

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel said Monday it had arrested a Palestinian armed cell in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said the Shin Bet internal security agency arrested seven Palestinians affiliated with the Islamic Jihad group in Jenin.

He said the cell had allegedly planned to carry out attacks and manufactured an explosive device that was shaped similarly to a rocket.

The Israeli spokesman said a mother of four was among those arrested, saying that the woman had previously been detained for attempting to carry out a suicide attack.

There was no comment from the Islamic Jihad group on the Israeli allegations.

Tensions have been running high across the Palestinian territories since the beginning of April amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and daily settler incursions into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara