Luken, 44, was stabbed to death in December while hiking with a friend in a forest outside Jerusalem. Police say the three men told interrogators they wanted to kill a Jew. Luken was in fact Christian.

The Shin Bet also said the 13 cell members are also suspected of causing 21 different security incidents between 1997 and 2010. The Palestinians were arrested on Dec. 21 in a joint IDF-Shin Bet operation. During their interrogations the suspects allegedly confessed to perpetrating the attack.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Amnon Cohen extended the remand of the cell by three weeks to allow the lawyers to study the material.

Shin Bet sources said the cell members succeeded in entering Israel through gaps in the separation wall near the settlement of Beitar Illit to the south of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem District Police said the Palestinian cell members are suspected of two murders, two attempted murders, seven robberies and seven house burglaries. Eight members have been arrested so far, and four of them — Iyad Batabta, Kifah Ghanimat, Mohammed Ghnaimat and another man — are from villages near West Bank city of Hebron.

The police said there is DNA evidence linking Ghnaimat to the murder scene