Israel’s security agency claims to have blocked a Hamas plot to assassinate far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir using explosives.
Shin Bet said it seized explosive devices that were intended to be attached to multiple drones and detained a Hamas cell in the Hebron area, in the southern West Bank, near Ben-Gvir’s residence on Wednesday.
The detainees are currently being interrogated.
Reacting to the attack, Ben-Gvir said in a video statement: “I will not be deterred and I will not be afraid! Hamas has already tried to eliminate me five times, and each time they failed — this time too.”
In July, Israel’s State Prosecutor’s Office charged 73-year-old Tamar Gershoni with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, after she planned to assassinate Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The UK imposed sanctions on Ben-Gvir in June after he made highly inflammatory comments about the war in Gaza, alongside Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. Ben-Gvir has advocated for the expulsion of people from Gaza, which humanitarian organisations say would amount to ethnic cleaning.
It joined Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway in freezing the minister’s assets and imposing travel bans.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now – to hold those responsible to account.”
Ben-Gvir has also called for Israel to conquer and declare sovereignty over the entirety of the Gaza Strip. He has called for “voluntary” migration for Gaza’s people.
Hamish Falconer, the UK’s Middle East minister, said: “Ben-Gvir has spoken of his rights in the West Bank, a territory his government is occupying, as being more important than the rights of millions of Palestinians. Their own words condemn them.”
Mr Falconer told Parliament: “Itamar Ben-Gvir has led seven provocative intrusions into Haram al-Sharif since 2022.
“They are an assault not just on Palestinian communities but on the very fundamentals of a two-state solution. This is an attempt to entrench a one-state reality where there are no equal rights.”
