Israel captures Palestinian who masterminded hotel bombing in 2002

Israeli soldiers on Wednesday arrested the Hamas mastermind of the bloodiest suicide bombing of the Palestinian uprising, an attack that killed 30 people and wounded 143 others during a Passover dinner celebration in 2002, the army said.

Omar Jabar planned the attack and dispatched the suicide bomber to the hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, the military said. He was arrested early Wednesday in the West Bank, the army said.

The attack became known in Israel as the "Passover Massacre" and spurred the military to launch "Operation Defensive Shield," a broad …