Israel arrests Gazan merchant suspected of aiding Hamas

The Israeli Security Agency announced on Thursday the arrest of a Gazan merchant for allegedly aiding the Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip by sending a huge amount of money and smuggled iron. Mahr Attiah Abed Abu Gabba, 41, is suspected of transferring up to 3.3 million U.S. dollars to the Hamas leadership and selling metal components to Hamas' military wing in the Palestinian enclave. Being a resident of Gaza, Abu Gabba has authorization to enter Israel due to his occupation as a merchant, the Security Agency said. He was arrested at the Erez crossing while carrying 299,000 U.S. dollars in cash and later indicted on charges of providing services to terrorists. The Security Agency said the suspect confessed that he had gathered funds from activists worldwide and passed them onto Hamas and that he sent about 470 tons of iron to the Hamas military. The court will hold another hearing on the case in two weeks. On Monday, Israeli officials announced the arrest of some members of a large Hamas cell operating in the Ramallah area. The Israeli army, police and security agency in a joint operation managed to arrest 30 of the cell's militants who, according to the officials, planned to revive Hamas' operation in the West Bank ruled by the Palestinians' Fatah party.