GAZA: A senior Hamas militant was shot dead near his home in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the group said, blaming Israel for the killing.
An Israeli military spokeswoman refused to comment on the incident in the Hamas-run Palestinian coastal enclave.
Mazen Fuqaha, a fighter from the occupied West Bank whom Israel released in a prisoner swap in 2011 and exiled to the Gaza Strip, was shot several times, said Hamas police.
Another senior Hamas official, Izzat El-Reshiq, said the killers used silencers.
“Hamas and its (military wing) hold (Israel) and its collaborators responsible for this despicable crime... (Israel) knows that the blood of fighters is not spilled in vain and Hamas will know how to act,” the group said in a statement.
Khalil Al-Haya, Hamas’s deputy chief in the Gaza Strip, said only Israel would have had something to gain from the death.
“If the enemy thinks that this assassination will change the power balance, then it should know the minds of Qassam will be able to retaliate in kind,” he said.
Thousands of Hamas supporters called for “revenge” during the funeral of Fuqaha.
“Revenge, revenge!” called participants at the procession.
Ismail Jaber, Hamas-nominated attorney general, said: “This assassination has the clear marks of Mossad,” he said, referring to the Jewish state’s spy agency.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, the new leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, headed the procession from the Shifa morgue to the Omari mosque.
Fuqaha, 38, was one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners that Israel released in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit whom Gaza militants had held captive in the coastal enclave after abducting him in a cross-border raid in 2006.
Israel jailed Fuqaha in 2003 for planning attacks against Israelis and sentenced him to nine life terms. Israeli media said that after his release while in exile in Gaza, he continued to plan attacks by West Bank militants.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip for 10 years.
Cross-border violence between Gaza militants and Israel has largely died down since a 2014 war in which militants launched thousands of rockets into Israel.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in 50 days of fighting. Israel put its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians.
Militants from small radical groups have continued to fire an occasional rocket into Israel from Gaza despite Hamas’ efforts to rein them in but Israel says it holds Hamas responsible and responds with airstrikes and tank fire.
Hamas has recently said it is becoming impatient with Israel’s bombing of its facilities and has hinted that it may end the current state of relative calm.
Meanwhile, surrounded by militant training sites on uprooted Jewish settlement lands, the first movie set in the Gaza Strip is growing, depicting the history-rich, volatile alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City.
The set is the latest effort by Al-Aqsa channel, run by Hamas, to kick-start its drama production in the territory and release another series slated to air in the month of Ramadan.
In Gaza, filming footage of Jerusalem and other central locations from the conflict is a challenge.
Gaza’s population of about 2 million live in mostly cramped conditions in the coastal sandy territory compared to the rugged mountain terrain of the West Bank, so crews have struggled to film the twisting ancient alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City. And that is how the idea to create a set depicting Jerusalem was born.
The fate of Jerusalem is an emotional issue at the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to the Old City with its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 war. Palestinians want the territory for their future state.
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Hamas blames Israeli spy agency for assassination of senior member
Hamas blames Israeli spy agency for assassination of senior member
Israeli-backed group kills a senior Hamas police officer in Gaza, threatens more attacks
- Hussam Al-Astal, leader of an anti-Hamas group based in an area under Israeli control east of Khan Younis, claimed responsibility for the killing
CAIRO: An Israeli-backed Palestinian militia said on Monday it had killed a senior Hamas police officer in the southern Gaza Strip, an incident which Hamas blamed on “Israeli collaborators.”
A statement from the Hamas-run interior ministry said gunmen opened fire from a passing car, killing Mahmoud Al-Astal, head of the criminal police unit in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave. It described the attackers as “collaborators with the occupation.”
Hussam Al-Astal, leader of an anti-Hamas group based in an area under Israeli control east of Khan Younis, claimed responsibility for the killing in a video he posted on his Facebook page. The surname he shares with the dead man, Al-Astal, is common in that part of Gaza.
“To those who work with Hamas, your destiny is to be killed. Death is coming to you,” he said, dressed in a black military-style uniform and clutching an assault rifle.
Reuters could not independently verify the circumstances of the attack. An Israeli military official said the army was not aware of any operations in the area.
The emergence of armed anti-Hamas groups, though still small and localized, has added pressure on the Islamists and could complicate efforts to stabilize and unify a divided Gaza, shattered by two years of war.
These groups remain unpopular among the local population as they operate in areas under Israeli control, although they publicly deny they take Israeli orders. Hamas has held public executions of people it accuses of collaboration.
Under a ceasefire in place since October, Israel has withdrawn from nearly half of the Gaza Strip, but its troops remain in control of the other half, largely a wasteland where virtually all buildings have been levelled.
Nearly all of the territory’s two million people now live in Hamas-held areas, mostly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, where the group has been reasserting its grip. Four Hamas sources said it continues to command thousands of fighters despite suffering heavy losses during the war.
Israel has been allowing rivals of Hamas to operate in areas it controls. In later phases, US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza calls for Israel to withdraw further and for Hamas to yield power to an internationally backed administration, but there has so far been no progress toward those steps.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Israeli backing for anti-Hamas groups in June, saying Israel had “activated” clans, but has given few details since then.
The ceasefire has ended major combat in Gaza over the past three months, but both sides have accused the other of regular violations. More than 440 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed since the truce took effect.
Gaza health authorities said on Monday Israeli drone fire killed at least three people near the center of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment on the drone incident.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023 when Gazan militants invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.
A statement from the Hamas-run interior ministry said gunmen opened fire from a passing car, killing Mahmoud Al-Astal, head of the criminal police unit in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave. It described the attackers as “collaborators with the occupation.”
Hussam Al-Astal, leader of an anti-Hamas group based in an area under Israeli control east of Khan Younis, claimed responsibility for the killing in a video he posted on his Facebook page. The surname he shares with the dead man, Al-Astal, is common in that part of Gaza.
“To those who work with Hamas, your destiny is to be killed. Death is coming to you,” he said, dressed in a black military-style uniform and clutching an assault rifle.
Reuters could not independently verify the circumstances of the attack. An Israeli military official said the army was not aware of any operations in the area.
The emergence of armed anti-Hamas groups, though still small and localized, has added pressure on the Islamists and could complicate efforts to stabilize and unify a divided Gaza, shattered by two years of war.
These groups remain unpopular among the local population as they operate in areas under Israeli control, although they publicly deny they take Israeli orders. Hamas has held public executions of people it accuses of collaboration.
Under a ceasefire in place since October, Israel has withdrawn from nearly half of the Gaza Strip, but its troops remain in control of the other half, largely a wasteland where virtually all buildings have been levelled.
Nearly all of the territory’s two million people now live in Hamas-held areas, mostly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, where the group has been reasserting its grip. Four Hamas sources said it continues to command thousands of fighters despite suffering heavy losses during the war.
Israel has been allowing rivals of Hamas to operate in areas it controls. In later phases, US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza calls for Israel to withdraw further and for Hamas to yield power to an internationally backed administration, but there has so far been no progress toward those steps.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Israeli backing for anti-Hamas groups in June, saying Israel had “activated” clans, but has given few details since then.
The ceasefire has ended major combat in Gaza over the past three months, but both sides have accused the other of regular violations. More than 440 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed since the truce took effect.
Gaza health authorities said on Monday Israeli drone fire killed at least three people near the center of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment on the drone incident.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023 when Gazan militants invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.
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