Two Palestinians planning to launch a terror attack on Tekoa were arrested by security forces outside the West Bank settlement.

The men, both from the Hebron area and affiliated with Hamas, confessed to planning an attack on the community located in the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements, according to Israeli media reports. One was carrying a knife.

Police had been searching for them for three days after they went missing on Dec. 6 and Israeli intelligence reported that a terror attack was planned.

One of the men is the nephew of Amar Abu Eisha, who is suspected of abducting and killing three Israeli teens in June from a traffic junction in Gush Etzion.

The arrests come a month after a Tekoa resident, Dalia Lemkus, 26, was stabbed and killed as she waited for a ride at the main Gush Etzion junction. — jta