The Israeli internal security service (Shin Bet) announced on Wednesday that in recent weeks, in cooperation with the Israeli army, it arrested a Hamas cell from the Hebron area in the occupied West Bank that planned to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Shin Bet said the cell is suspected of operating under the direction of Hamas leadership in Turkey, aiming to carry out an assassination against National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, according to their claim.

The Shin Bet spokesperson said the assassination planned by the Hamas cell in Hebron was to be executed using a bomb-laden drone against Ben Gvir.

In response to the Shin Bet announcement, Ben Gvir said Hamas tried to assassinate him five times, but he will continue his iron-fist policy in Israeli prisons and demand the government erase Hamas from the map, as he put it.

Meanwhile, Israeli Kan Channel reported that days before the group’s arrest, Ben Gvir’s security guards spotted drones flying near his home, and Shin Bet immediately evacuated Ben Gvir and his family from the house.

From time to time, Shin Bet announces the arrest or dismantling of Palestinian cells that planned to assassinate Ben Gvir, with such cases recurring before and after the Al-Aqsa flood.

In November last year, Israeli media reported that indictments were filed against three Palestinians who formed a cell to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his son.

They added that the cell members are residents of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, noting that the indictments were submitted to a military court.

Maariv newspaper described the indictments as serious, saying the “main suspect” Ismail Ibrahim Awadi communicated last June with “various parties” to form a military cell, acquire weapons, and manufacture explosives to use against Israeli security forces.

According to Israeli allegations, the alleged cell leader sought support from Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah to carry out attacks against Israelis and prominent figures.

In May 2022, the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet revealed the arrest of five Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem on suspicion of planning to assassinate Ben Gvir and other Israeli figures, and carrying out bombing operations against occupation targets.

According to the agency, the five Palestinians planned to carry out shootings and prepare explosives to use in an attempt to capture Israeli soldiers, adding that they purchased a drone to use in a bombing targeting the light rail in Jerusalem.

Shin Bet stated that the five were arrested in early April, and that one of them “formed an activist network aimed at disrupting the peaceful atmosphere in East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan,” and that they participated in “riots” in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.