[IMRA: "Haytham Battat was arrested in June 2002...released from prison in
February 2004, and shortly thereafter
he returned to his activity in the same Hamas terrorist cell, and took part
in two additional shooting attacks..."]

October 16th, 2005

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Attributed to "security sources" [Distributed by IDF Spokesperson's Office]

Hamas terrorist arrested last Wednesday in Dahariya

Haytham Battat is among those responsible for numerous shooting attacks
in which four Israelis were killed, and for the suicide bombing in the
central bus station in Beersheba in August 2005

In a joint IDF and ISA operation in the village of Dahariya, southwest
of Hebron, last Wednesday, October 12, 2005, Haytham Battat, 21,
resident of Dahariya, a wanted Hamas terrorist, was arrested. Battat
belonged to a Hamas cell which carried out a number of murderous
terrorist attacks in which four Israelis were killed.

On September 27, 2005, Battat escaped a security forces attempt to
arrest him and from that point on lived in hiding in an abandoned house
in Dahariya.

Battat was recruited by a Hamas terrorist cell four years ago, and
immediately following his recruitment, he and several additional members
of the terrorist cell set off to carry out a shooting attack against
Israeli vehicles traveling in the area of Tene, an Israeli community
located south of Hebron. The shooting attack was eventually aborted
since the members of the cell identified the driver of the vehicle that
they were about to target was an Arab.

On February 10, 2002, Battat and another member of the cell dispatched
two terrorists, Mahmad Battat and Haled Tel, to carry out a terrorist
attack in Beersheba. The two arrived at the entrance to the IDF Southern
Command base in Beersheba, and opened fire in all directions. Two IDF
soldiers, Keren Rothenstein and Ayah Malachi, were killed in the attack,
and 24 Israeli civilians were wounded. Several Israelis who were present
in the area returned fire at the two terrorists, killing them.

Haytham Battat met with the two terrorists before they set out to
execute the attack, photographed them, received their testaments and
provided them with the two weapons with which they carried out the
attack.

Haytham Battat was arrested in June 2002, after security forces received
information which revealed his involvement in the shooting attack.
During Battat's stay in prison, the Hamas cell to which he belonged
carried out two shooting attacks in the area of Dahariya. One of them
was a shooting attack at an Israeli vehicle on February 27, 2004, in
which an Israeli couple, Eitan Kukoy and Rima Nobukov, residents of the
community of Shani, in the southern Mount Hebron area, were murdered.

Battat was released from prison in February 2004, and shortly thereafter
he returned to his activity in the same Hamas terrorist cell, and took
part in two additional shooting attacks. On August 8, 2004, members of
the Hamas cell opened fire at an Israeli vehicle traveling on the road
near the Israeli community of Tene. The driver was lightly wounded in
the attack. Battat was also involved in a shooting attack at the Hadas
Junction, near Dahariya, in February 2005. Members of the Hamas cell
prepared a hideout alongside the road, and opened fire at a military
jeep patrolling in the area. The soldiers who were inside the vehicle
attempted to return fire at the terrorists, but did not hit them. The
terrorists continued to shoot at the vehicle, and four soldiers were
wounded, two of them severely.

The most recent terrorist attack carried out by the cell was the suicide
bombing at the central bus station in Beersheba on August 28, 2005. The
terrorists who took part in the attack, and particularly Battat, who
served as the explosives expert in the cell, prepared an explosive belt
containing a large amount of explosives and shrapnel in order to
maximize the number of casualties and the damage sustained during the
attack.

Haytham Battat is the nephew of Iad Battat, a wanted Hamas terrorist
from Dahariya who carried out several murderous attacks against Israeli
targets and was killed during an exchange of fire with an IDF force in
1999.

To date, several members of the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the
village of Dahariya, to which Battat belonged, have been arrested. This
infrastructure is responsible for carrying out a large number of terror
attacks against Israeli targets, including attacks that were carried out
during the supposed recent period of calm declared by Hamas.