The Shin Bet said it had foiled a plot to assassinate Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with a rocket-propelled grenade during last summer's Gaza conflict. Four Palestinians were arrested over the plot.
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Israel's inland security agency said the attack was to be carried out during Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza last July and August. The Shin Bet said the four men belonged to Hamas.
The cell reportedly planned to buy an a grenade and fire it at Lieberman's convoy near his home in Nokdim, in the West Bank. The agency said the group had the minister's convoy under surveillance. They are said to have timed and measured different sections of the convoy's journey to calculate the most effective point for the attack.
Three of the suspects - Ibrahim Salim Mahmoud al-Zir, Ziad Salim Mahmoud al-Zir and Adnan Amin Mahmoud Sabih - came from a nearby Arab village in the West Bank.
Ibrahim Salim Mahmoud al-Zir allegedly masterminded the plot and recruited his brother Ziad, Adnan Amin Mahmoud Sabih and another Hamas member Youssef Ibrahim Youssef al-Sheikh, from the Bethlehem area. The group were arrested two weeks ago, the Shin Bet said.
According to the agency, the men said they had hoped that killing Lieberman "would relay a message to the State of Israel that would bring about an end to the Gaza war".
