Israel foils Hamas attacks in Jerusalem

Israel's security service foiled a suicide attack last month in Jerusalem and seized an explosive belt 24 hours before the attack, Israeli news reports said Wednesday. The Shin Bet's prevention of the attack was part of a large operation involving multiple Israeli security agencies during which "13 separate cells" were arrested, the Haaretz newspaper reported. A spokesman for Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades, however, dismissed the report in Haaretz and other Israeli news sites as false and said the security agencies made the allegations for political purposes. Abu Ubayda, the spokesman, said the arrests of Hamas members were more likely intended to increase Israel's bargaining power in negotiations for a prisoner swap for captured soldier Gilad Shalit. He said the reports "express a hostile point of view."