Security forces apprehended three Palestinian Authority sisters Thursday in Hebron who intended to carry out a stabbing attack at the Cave of the Patriarchs.
Israeli Border Guard Police at the site discovered a knife on one of the women during a routine search, raising suspicions about the other two. A subsequent search revealed two more knives.
An initial interrogation indicated that one knife had been discarded a short distance from the checkpoint when one of the women apparently changed her mind about going through with the planned attack. Investigators believe that the third woman deposited a knife with a local resident or shopkeeper.
The would-be attackers are aged 15, 18 and 23 and are residents of El-Aroub, a terrorist hotbed north of Hebron. Security forces detained the sisters for further questioning.
