JNS.org — Israel recently thwarted a Hamas plot to carry out a series of suicide bombings in major Israeli cities and shooting attacks across Judea and Samaria, the Shin Bet security agency announced Thursday.

A joint operation by the Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces and police uncovered a Nablus-based Hamas network of 20 operatives who were planning the attacks. Many of those apprehended had served prison sentences in Israel for security offenses. All the suspects have implicated themselves in the plot, the Shin Bet said.

The network had set up an explosives lab where bombs and suicide vests were being manufactured. The group also purchased assault rifles and recruited four suicide bombers who were intending to target crowded areas in Jerusalem and Haifa as well as several major bus stations in central Israel.

“The investigation uncovered an organized Hamas network that, had it not been thwarted, would have caused widespread death and destruction,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.