Police and Shin Bet agents said Sunday that they arrested a 17-year-old from the coastal Arab town of Jisr az-Zarqa earlier this month on suspicion that he had been planning a terror attack in Israel on behalf of ISIS.
The statement did not name the suspect, as he is a minor.
The agencies said in a joint statement that the youth had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State terror group several times in recent months, and had been plotting an attack in north-central Israel.
Security forces also discovered documents related to manufacturing explosives in his possession, the statement added.
The Haifa District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against the suspect after police completed their investigation, and requested the extension of his detention until the end of court proceedings.
In recent months, several Arab Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks after swearing allegiance to ISIS, including a 21-year-old resident of Taybeh named Kamel Nashef, who was arrested in March after he allegedly made contact with figures who identify with ISIS, beginning in the summer of 2024.
Nashef was also accused of tipping off terror operatives in the West Bank city of Tulkarem by sending them photos of Israeli troops on their way there as part of a large-scale counterterror operation there in recent months.
In January, police arrested four minors from the predominantly Arab Triangle region of Israel for planning attacks, including one who had intended to “carry out terrorist activity inspired by ISIS.”
The minor reportedly consumed ISIS-related content online, attempted to make contact with a member and swore allegiance to the group, but later regretted it. Police say the minor also purchased a gun illegally, and later sold it.
In October, police and the Shin Bet said they had thwarted a plot by five Taybeh residents to carry out a car-bombing attack at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Mall under the banner of the fanatical terror group that originated in Iraq and Syria.
Palestinian assailants have also been recently accused of ISIS ties. Last month one of them, a terrorist from the West Bank’s Hebron who murdered three people and wounded others in a series of attacks in Jerusalem in recent years, was sentenced to three life sentences and another 40-year prison sentence.