JERUSALEM ( CNN ) -- Israeli forces have arrested a wanted Hamas leader accused of planning one of the worst suicide attacks on Israel , the Israeli military announced Wednesday . An Israeli solider guards the hotel on the first anniversary of the suicide bombing . Omar Jabar was wanted by Israel for six years `` for his direct responsibility in carrying out '' the 2002 Passover suicide bombing in Netanya that killed 30 Israelis and left 143 wounded , the Israel Defense Forces said . Israeli military and security forces nabbed Jabar -- identified as the head of Hamas in the Tulkarem area -- in a West Bank village near Tulkarem overnight Tuesday , the Israel Defense Forces said . He was arrested a day before the six-year anniversary of the attack , one of the deadliest in Israeli history . On March 27 , 2002 , a suicide bomber walked into the seaside Park Hotel and made his way toward a dining room , where he detonated his explosives as 227 people were eating their Seder meal . According to IDF , Jabar recruited the person who dispatched the suicide bomber , introducing him to the head of the Hamas in Tulkarem at the time , Abed Sayad . The IDF says Sayad told Israeli investigators that he and Jabar met and began working together in 1994 during a stint in prison . After the Passover attack , the Israeli military said Jabar continued to recruit militants to Hamas and over the past year was involved in their combat training . He hid from Israeli forces in villages near Tulkarem , using his family members to send coded messages to Hamas operatives `` in order to lead the Hamas terror organization in Tulkarem , finance his and other militants ' terrorist activity and purchase weapons , '' the IDF said . Israel and the U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization . Its military wing , Izzedine al Qassam , has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military . It also operates an extensive social services network in the Palestinian territories and won parliamentary elections in 2006 . Last year , it seized control of Gaza from the rival Fatah group , which backs Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas . E-mail to a friend .
Israel says it has arrested the man behind a bombing that killed 30 people . Omar Jabar is accused of recruiting and training Hamas militants . 2002 Passover suicide bomb exploded in Netanya hotel packed with diners . Jabar was arrested a day before the six-year anniversary of the attack .