Hamas Tries To Determine How Israel Killed Military Leaders In Secret Locations

Hamas scrambles to learn how Israel killed its military leaders hiding in secret locations

Rasha Abou Jalal

Hamas was deeply shocked after a number of its military leaders were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting them on May 12, and it fears that Israel has spies who have uncovered Hamas' secret communications system.

The targeting was part of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip after resistance factions fired hundreds of rocketstoward Israel on May 10, in response to the Israeli police storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and the attempts to evict residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem.

As of May 14, the death toll in Gaza was at least 122, including 31 children and 20 women. Additionally, some 900 were wounded, some of whom are in critical condition.

The Israeli army announced on May 12 that it had killed 16 Hamas military leaders and members. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, admitted in a statement on May 12 that some of its leaders had been killed, namely, “Bassem Issa, the commander of the Gaza City Brigade, and several other leaders and mujahideen who died during the occupation’s aggression against the resistance’s sites and hideouts.”

Although al-Qassam Brigades did not reveal the names of the other leaders who were killed in this raid along with Issa, the Israeli army said that among the dead were Jomaa Tahla, commander of Hamas’ cyber system and rocket audit project; Jamal al-Zibdeh, leader of the development project in the rocket production system; Kazem al-Khatib, commander of the engineering unit in the rocket production system; Sami Radwan, commander of the technical directorate in Hamas’ military intelligence; and Walid Shamali, commander of the industrial equipment directorate in the military production system.

Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, commented on the military leaders’ death in a statement on May 13, saying, “This has become an open confrontation with the enemy, and we will continue to defend our people in Gaza. Whenever a leader dies, a long line of leaders will carry the torch and continue the path toward victory, liberation and return."

In an interview with Al-Aqsa TV on May 13, Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, said, “The occupation should not dare think that the martyrdom of leaders can weaken us; the resistance is ongoing and ever-growing.”

A reliable source in al-Qassam Brigades told Al-Monitor that these Hamas leaders were targeted while they were inside a secret tunnel the movement had dug under Al-Thalathini Street in central Gaza City, one of the most high-end streets in the city.

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