Israel says it prevented naval terrorist attack off Gaza coast

Israeli security forces last month stopped a potential attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group against an Israeli naval vessel, The Times of Israel reports.

Israel’s security service, Shin Bet, said on Wednesday that the planned attack was thwarted on March 12 when Israel’s navy stopped a Palestinian boat that had gone beyond the designated Gaza fishing zone.  

The navy arrested 10 people, including Amin Saadi Muhammad Jumma’a, a suspected member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He reportedly told interrogators that he had orders from his commanders to prepare an attack on Israeli naval ships.

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The planned attack reportedly included firing a Kornet missile at an Israeli vessel and then boarding the vessel to kidnap sailors who survived.

The thwarted attack “proves the true intentions of the terrorist organizations in Gaza, that are trying to disguise their murderous intentions by provocative actions against the security fence. Their sole purpose is to provide a cover under which terrorists can carry out attacks against Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to the The Jerusalem Post.

Prosecutors reportedly plans to indict Jumma’a on Wednesday.

Reports of the attack last month come as Israel’s military faces off against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza strip.

At least 17 Palestinians have been killed in clashes at the border and hundreds have been reported injured.

The conflicts are part of a six-week long protest that began on Friday aimed at pressing Israel to give refugees right of return to the villages and towns where their families lived before 1948.