Israeli police and the Shin Bet arrested a Negev resident who allegedly maintained contact with a foreign agent, possessed illegal weapons, and planned to carry out a terror attack in the city of Beer Sheva. The State Attorney’s Office filed a severe indictment against him this morning.
A joint investigation by the Southern District’s Central Unit of the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, uncovered the activities of Abdullah Gargawi, 20, a resident of Segev Shalom. According to the charges, he maintained contact with a foreign agent, possessed combat weapons, and planned to carry out terrorist activity and an attack in Beer Sheva. Following the suspicions, and during an operational activity by fighters from the Yoav Unit in the Southern District, in cooperation with officers from the Segev Shalom station, the suspect was arrested on July 19, 2026, in Segev Shalom and transferred for interrogation.
The investigation revealed that the suspect was exposed over an extended period to content associated with the ISIS terror organization on social media, identified with the organization’s ideology, and consumed terror content. It also emerged that he established connections with elements online, including someone who presented himself as a ‘Palestinian’ terrorist operative, and participated in Telegram groups where content related to ISIS and terrorist activity was exchanged.
The investigation further revealed that the suspect carried out actions intended to prepare explosive material and manufacture an explosive device, as part of the preparation stages toward carrying out an attack at the Forum nightclub in Beer Sheva using a car bomb. Additionally, during the months of March and April 2026, he allegedly possessed an illegal M16-type weapon containing standard weapon parts, weapon accessories, and ammunition, and even fired it in an open area.
During 2025, the defendant kept numerous weapons at his home, including a MAG machine gun, an AK-47, a Negev rifle, an M16, magazines, and ammunition. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office filed a severe indictment this morning in the Beer Sheva District Court against the suspect for security offenses as well as offenses of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
Police responded: “This is a serious activity in which the suspect planned to advance terrorist activity and carry out an attack. His intentions were thwarted well in advance through joint activity by the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, before he succeeded in implementing his plan.”
“The Israel Police and the Shin Bet view with great severity any involvement of Israeli citizens in terrorist activity, and will continue to act decisively to thwart terrorist intentions and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those involved in terror offenses who seek to harm citizens and residents of the State of Israel.”