Israel Says Three Palestinian Teens Plotted to Gas Bus Passengers

The Israeli military prosecutor has charged three Palestinian teens with plotting to stage a suicide attack on an Israeli city bus using the highly toxic and odorless poison strychnine.

The IDF says the teens had an elaborate attack plan, which included releasing an odorless poison on bus passengers and stabbing them. (Photo: Shutterstock/Groenning)

The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces announced that it had indicted the three West Bank 17-year-olds with a plot to use the chemical, often found in pesticides, against Israeli bus travelers:

The three Palestinians initially planned to illegally cross the border into Israel and perpetrate a terrorist attack against a bus of civilians, said the IDF statement.

They allegedly acquired four knives, each of which was 20 centimeters [8 inches] long, two gas masks and Strychnine poison to try to gas passengers on a bus.

 Further, they intended to stab the passengers while they were being gassed, and would then be “martyred” themselves, according to the statement.

According to the indictment, one of the three teens backed out at the last moment and was therefore handed a lesser charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

The IDF said the teens got as far as hiding in the bushes at a checkpoint near the Israeli settlement of Oranit on April 2 to wait for a bus they could attack.

When soldiers in the area revealed their position and pursued them, one of the Palestinian teens stabbed one of the soldiers, who suffered moderate wounds, Israel’s Arutz Sheva reported in April.