Twenty-one-year-old Wafaa Samir Ibrahim Bass was arrested on the morning of June 20 at the Erez crossing, after attempting to smuggle an explosives belt through the crossing with the intent of carrying out a suicide bombing attack.
Wafaa, a resident of Jabaliya, aroused the suspicion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers at the crossing and during her security check. When she realized that the soldiers had discovered the explosive belt on her body, she attempted unsuccessfully to detonate it.
Wafaa stated in her questioning that she had been dispatched as a suicide bomber by the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade infrastructure based in the northern Gaza Strip. Wafaa was to use her personal medical authorization documents, allowing her to cross through into Israel to receive medical treatment. Wafaa stated that she had been directed to carry out the suicide attack in a crowded Israeli hospital.
Wafaa had been admitted to an Israeli hospital for medical treatment in the past. Between December 2004 and January 2005, she was treated at the Soroka hospital in the Israeli city of Beersheva for massive burns she received as a result of a gas tank explosion.
Wafaa was given permission to enter Israel on June 20 for admission to the hospital for medical treatment. The terrorist infrastructure took advantage of her medical condition in order to carry out a major suicide bombing attack inside Israel.
There have been several different attempts by terrorist organizations to dispatch terrorists to Israel from the Gaza Strip by exploiting those in need of medical treatment:
(IDF spokesperson, June 20, 2005)
PRAYER FOCUS
Pray that God will continue to give the security forces the ability to spot suicide bombers. Thank the Lord that this bomb did not result in the loss of human life.
SCRIPTURE
“In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” (Psalm 56:4).
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