Members of Palestinian terror cell arrested in Samaria last month planned to launch rockets on Tel Aviv

Israeli security authorities last month announced the arrest of members of a Palestinian terror cell in Samaria who had built a makeshift rocket manufacturing lab and attempted to launch rockets into Israel.

Initially, security officials said the group likely intended to target the Jerusalem area, based on the location of the rocket lab and the flight path of one of the failed launches. However, the officials revealed on Tuesday that the cell had planned to fire its rockets on Tel Aviv and force an end to the Gaza war. 

The cell is not the first Palestinian terror group to attempt to launch rockets at Israeli territory, as a couple of attempts were also documented in early 2023. Israeli security officials also discovered an attempt to smuggle rocket-making equipment and weapons into the Palestinian Territories in Judea and Samaria in 2024. However, the cell, which launched from Kafr Na’ima, had progressed further than previous efforts. 

During interrogation, the cell’s leader, reportedly identified as Abdullah al-Khatib, said his group intended to launch rockets at Tel Aviv to “stop the war.” The IDF took the group’s efforts seriously, considering the development of a rocket threat in the biblical heartland to be an untenable escalation, with severe threats to the security of Israel’s highly-populated central coastland region. 

After a covert investigation, Shin Bet and IDF soldiers discovered the building where the group was storing an arsenal of approximately 15 rockets. Most had not yet received warheads, although the launch propellant and rocket bodies were mostly completed. Upon further investigation, a workshop in Ramallah, which contained a lather for making the rocket parts, was discovered.

One week after that arrest, IDF and Border Police soldiers discovered a rocket in the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, in the northern region of Samaria. The IDF and Shin Bet say that Iran has been increasing its attempts to supply advanced weapons to terror groups in Judea and Samaria for some time, and the attempts to build a rocket manufacturing industry are a sign of the Iranian efforts to destabilize the disputed territories. 

About one week ago, the Shin Bet also announced that it had prevented an attempt to smuggle large amounts of weapons into the Palestinian Territories from Iran. The shipment contained 29 Claymore-type explosive devices, four drones, 15 anti-tank rockets, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher, along with three RPGs, 20 hand grenades, nine machine guns, seven assault rifles, 53 handguns, and around 750 bullets. 

The Shin Bet said the smuggling attempt was undertaken by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Unit 4000, a Special Operations Division inside the IRGC’s intelligence organization. The shipment was uncovered after the arrest of a weapons dealer near Ramallah.

Similar Iranian weapons smuggling efforts were foiled by the Israeli military and Shin Bet in March and November of 2024.