They are charged with trafficking and possession of weapons and ammunition, as well as providing the means to commit a terrorist act.
Israel’s Southern District Attorney’s Office filed indictments on Thursday against three Negev residents accused of supplying weapons to the terrorist who carried out the October 2024 attack on the Beersheba Central Bus Station, killing 19-year-old Border Police officer Shira Chaya Suslik and wounding several others.
They were charged with trafficking and possession of weapons and ammunition, as well as providing the means to commit a terrorist act.
This indictment follows an undercover operation in which Border Police arrested the three suspects, who allegedly sold — or facilitated the sale of — a pistol and ammunition for the attacker, Ahmad Said Suliman al-Ukabi, a 29-year-old Bedouin Israeli.
The suspects indicted Thursday are Yahya al-Uqbi, a resident of Hura, and two other Bedouin Israelis, a father and a son, one of whom was a minor at the time of the offenses, and neither of whom is named in the police report.
The investigation revealed that some of the suspects were also engaged in other arms trafficking deals with other Negev residents.
Israel Border Police Cpl. Shira Chaya Suslik who was killed in the terror attack in Beersheba, October 6, 2024. (credit: ISRAEL POLICE SPOKESMAN)
At the time of the attack in early October 2024, the Forum of the Heads of the Bedouin Authorities in the Negev strongly condemned it, saying it did not reflect the human or moral values of the Bedouin community and was in complete contradiction with the common principles of life and peace.
They also warned that we should not allow any “extremist party/group” to take advantage of the situation to deepen societal rifts and sow division between the two peoples, and called for increased cooperation and cohesion against terrorism.
Shin Bet uncovers Bedouin terror cell plotting attacks on police station, Beersheba bus station
Also on Thursday, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released a statement announcing that a terrorist cell modeled after the Palestinian Battalions of the West Bank was uncovered in the Bedouin community of Segev Shalom.
According to the statement, five suspects were arrested for interrogation in May and June, with the interrogations revealing that Arab Israeli citizens in the Negev planned to establish a terror battalion in the town of Segev Shalom, just outside of Beersheba, in order to carry out acts of terror.
Jonah Davidov, Jerusalem Post Staff, and Yuval Barnea contributed to this report.