Ismail Haniyeh says Jewish state responsible for Samer Arbid’s life, vows security prisoners won’t be left ‘to the Zionist sadism’
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Monday warned Israel it bears responsibility for the life of a terror suspect who was hospitalized in critical condition after being interrogated.
“The Zionist occupation will pay the price for its crimes against the prisoners,” the head of the Gaza-ruling terror group was quoted as saying by the Kan public broadcaster.
Over the weekend, the Shin Bet security service announced the arrest of three Palestinians suspected of carrying out a deadly bombing attack last month at a natural spring outside the Dolev settlement in the West Bank.
Samer Arbid, the alleged ringleader of the cell accused of carrying out the terror bombing, which killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb and seriously injured her father and brother, was hospitalized Saturday in critical condition after an interrogation by the Shin Bet.
The Justice Ministry launched an investigation into the circumstances of the 44-year-old terror suspect’s injuries, specifically probing the degree of force along with the tactics used by the Shin Bet interrogators.
“We’ll never abandon our prisoners. We’ll never leave them [as] trophies to the Zionist sadism and they won’t remain much longer behind the bars of the occupation,” Haniyeh said outside the Gaza headquarters of the Red Cross, according to the Walla news site.
the Liberation of Palestine terror group, which Israeli authorities said the suspect had a history of involvement with.
“We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the lives of the Palestinian prisoner Samer Arbid and his comrades, and we assure that by endangering their lives, the occupation will open the gates of hell,” the PFLP’s military wing said in a statement Sunday.
Arbid’s lawyers have called for an international probe into the incident to be conducted by the United Nations and the International Red Cross.
Arbid was arrested earlier this month and then released due to lack of evidence against him. He was picked up again on Wednesday.
The Shin Bet was given legal permission to employ “extraordinary measures” in its interrogation of Arbid, a security source told reporters Saturday. Such measures can include beatings, forcing prisoners into uncomfortable positions, sleep deprivation, shackling and subjecting prisoners to extreme temperatures.
This is typically allowed in cases of a “ticking time bomb,” where there is concern that the suspect could provide security forces with information that could prevent an imminent attack.
The Shin Bet said the cell was planning additional attacks when the suspects were arrested, including shootings and kidnappings. During the arrest raids, security forces also found and safely detonated an improvised explosive device that the group had made.
Arbid was taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital at Mount Scopus in critical condition after he apparently suffered a heart-related problem during the interrogation.
His attorneys said he had been healthy when he was arrested. The Shin Bet confirmed only that Arbid had been taken to the hospital.
On August 23, an IED that had been planted next to the Bubin natural spring in the central West Bank was triggered by terrorists as the Shnerb family from the central Israeli town of Lod visited the site. Rina Shnerb was declared dead at the scene and her father Eitan and brother Dvir, 19, were taken to a hospital in Jerusalem after being wounded by the blast.
Both Qassem a-Karim Rajah Shibli and Yasan Hasin Hasni Majamas, who were also arrested over their suspected involvement in the attack, have served time in Israeli prisons for their involvement in terrorist activities, according to the Shin Bet.
The Shin Bet said it arrested a fourth man — Nizam Sami Yousef Ulad Mahmoud, 21 — who is suspected of being a member of Arbid’s cell. He is a member of the PFLP’s student group at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.
The Shin Bet said it was still looking for additional members of the terror cell.
Also Monday, Palestinian reports said Israeli forces arrested four residents of the East Jerusalem village of Issawiya, among them the father of a man killed by police after launching fireworks at them.
His death came as police reportedly had been entering Issawiya for weeks in a bid to track down members of a PFLP terror cell, believed to be at large in the neighborhood.
As reported by The Times of Israel