The IDF said it had detained two Palestinians in the West Bank who were allegedly planning to fire rockets into Israel on orders of Hezbollah. Tahar Amar and Hassan Ufi of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were detained in the town of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank on Friday, an army spokesman said.
"Army special forces backed by border guards and men from the Shin Bet on Friday detained two Fatah militants in Tulkarem who were ready to fire two homemade rockets into Israel," he said.
The two men were found in possession of two rockets and eight kilograms of explosives when they were detained, he said. Hezbollah financed and commanded the cell headed by the two men, he said, without elaborating.
A Fatah spokesman in the town said the two detained men were members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades but denied that they were planning to fire rockets into Israel or that they had any link to Hezbollah.
"There were no attempts to fire any rockets," Sahmeh Zarer said. "This is all part of Israel's plan to prepare the ground for a military escalation in the West Bank. Fatah has no relations whatsoever with Hezbollah."
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