These investigations, which are in addition to previous investigations carried out in the past two years in front of spy infrastructure agents, once again reveal the fact that Hamas exploits the border crossings to promote terrorist activity in Israel.

It has been allowed to publish that as part of a joint activity of the General Security Service and the Israel Police on November 29, 2021, Hussein Biari, 30, an Israeli citizen with a family in the Gaza Strip and Mahmoud Ahmad, 33, a resident of the Gaza Strip, were arrested for questioning.

The findings of the investigations carried out indicate that the two were recruited by Hamas' spy and terrorism infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which employs agents inside Israel, with the intention of guiding terrorist operatives from Gaza, including Muhammad Halawa.

According to the findings of the investigations, the two met with their operatives in Hamas during their stay in the Gaza Strip in order to receive the missions and subsequently maintained ongoing secret-operational contact with their operatives.

Mahmoud Ahmad's investigation revealed that he was recruited for the espionage infrastructure during 2019 and that as part of his activities he performed tasks to gather information about Iron Dome systems throughout the country and also acted for secret photography of IDF soldiers at Ashkelon Central Station.

The information accumulated during the interrogation of the second defendant, Hussein Biari, showed that he was recruited for the espionage infrastructure during the past year and managed to carry out gathering missions in front of military bases, IDF soldiers and Iron Dome systems throughout the country.

In addition, Biari was asked by Hamas to incite the Arab population in Israel against the state, obtain weapons and carry out an attack on Israeli territory.

An indictment was filed today in the Lod District Court by the Central Prosecutor's Office against Hussein Biari, while in the Be'er Sheva District Court an indictment was filed by the Southern District Attorney's Office against Mahmoud Ahmad. The indictments attribute to the two serious security offenses.

The General Security Service takes very seriously any intention of terrorist and espionage activity from the Gaza Strip and will continue to work together with the Israel Police and the IDF in order to detect and thwart any hostile activity by these organizations in advance.