The Shin Bet, IDF and Israeli police have recently arrested a terror cell from the village of Awarta (adjacent to Shechem), the IDF Spokesperson announced on Tuesday. Two of the operatives in the cell carried out the terror attack in which a gas station was set ablaze in the community of Eli in Samaria, August 14, 2015. The perpetrators vandalized the station and sprayed the symbol of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The arrest of this terror cell was based on forensic evidence found at the scene and eyewitness testimony. The perpetrators are residents of the Awarta village and are known operatives in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). They are Majdi galal ezzat Kowarik, 22, and Ahmed azam ata Abdat, 23.

During their Shin Bet interrogation, the two confessed that they carried out the attack. Kowarik planned the attack, while Abdat drove the vehicle and threw a fire bomb at the gas station.

The operatives claimed to have executed the attack as a revenge for the Duma village terror attack.

The findings of the investigation were submitted to the Military Advocate General in Judea and Samaria to facilitate filing an indictment against them.