Israel Matzav

Hamas claims to have captured key 'collaborators'

"The relevant bodies have succeeded in acquiring dangerous confessions and revealing a number of agents who were behind the assassination of leaders of the resistance," interior ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told reporters.

"We have arrested some agents who were able to infiltrate some of the resistance groups by joining their ranks and attempting to gain the confidence of leaders," he added at a Gaza news conference.

Ghussein then listed several incidents going as far back as 2006 in which spies allegedly helped pinpoint leaders ahead of their assassination by Israeli forces and set off bombs in militant compounds.

In many of the alleged incidents the information provided was incorrect, leading to the killing of civilians, the interior ministry spokesman said.

However, he declined to say how many alleged agents had been arrested and provided just one name -- that of a supporter of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement who fled to the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Ghussein also showed a video of two men, their faces pixelated, confessing to having spied for Israel and describing how they were recruited.

Another interior ministry official, Mohammed Lafi, showed different gadgets he said had been found on the alleged agents, including a camera concealed in a tissue box and a car battery with a phone inside.

"The security services have a strict policy of not speaking about numbers or names or specific situations, but I think it's very clear that we have achieved something," he said.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:40 AM