Israel has cancelled 200 out of some 15,500 work permits issued to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip after a labourer was accused of planning to carry out a bombing, the Shin Bet security agency said on Thursday.

The suspect, arrested on October 30, is claimed to have told interrogators that he had been recruited by relatives in the group Islamic Jihad to plant a bomb on a bus in southern Israel, the Shin Bet said.

It said the suspect had been indicted in an Israeli court.

It was not immediately clear if he had been assigned a lawyer or how he might plead to the charges.

The Shin Bet said that among Israel’s responses was the voiding of around 200 permits of workers who it claimed had militant family members.

“The attempt by terror groups to exploit the jobs of workers in Israel in order to carry out attacks endangers the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of residents of the Gaza Strip,” Defence Minister Benny Gantz tweeted.

Islamic Jihad had no immediate comment.

Gantz, part of the Israel’s centrist outgoing government, had championed expanding the allotment of entry permits in order ease Gaza’s grinding poverty and stave off conflict.

A double bombing in Jerusalem on Wednesday, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility, killed a teenaged Israeli-Canadian and wounded at least 14 other people.

Opinion

Editorial

Agriculture tax
Updated 16 Nov, 2024

Agriculture tax

Amendments made in Punjab's agri income tax law are crucial to make the system equitable.
Genocidal violence
16 Nov, 2024

Genocidal violence

A RECENTLY released UN report confirms what many around the world already know: that Israel has been using genocidal...
Breathless Punjab
16 Nov, 2024

Breathless Punjab

PUNJAB’s smog crisis has effectively spiralled out of control, with air quality readings shattering all past...
Last call
Updated 15 Nov, 2024

Last call

PTI should hardly be turning its "final" protest into a "do or die" occasion.
Mini budget talk
15 Nov, 2024

Mini budget talk

NO matter how much Pakistan’s finance managers try to downplay the prospect of a ‘mini budget’ to pull off a...
Diabetes challenge
15 Nov, 2024

Diabetes challenge

AMONGST the many public health challenges confronting Pakistan, diabetes arguably does not get the attention it...