A Hamas-affiliated radio station, Gaza's Voice of Al-Aqsa reported on Friday that Palestinian militants (Hamas) publicly assassinated 11 men suspected of collaborating with Israel. Apparently the killings were in retribution for an airstrike by the Israeli's that took out three top military commanders for Hamas. Analysts report that Israel would have needed spies to provide human intelligence to take these three military commanders out.
The three Hamas commanders were killed in the southern town of Rafah, and was a huge blow against Hamas' command structure of its military wing, the Qassam Brigades. The Qassam Brigade was formed in 1992 with the goal of blocking the Oslo Accords negotiations.
Read more about the Qassam Brigade here:
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The Qassam Brigade issued a statement that said that the three members of the Brigade that were killed were identified as Mohammed Abu Shamala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum. Abu Shamala was the most senior commander in southern part of Gaza and was responsible for construction of tunnels in southern Gaza. Shamal was also involved involved in the 2006 attack near the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers and the capture of a third. The killings came just a day after an assassination attempt on Mohammed Deif, the top commander of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.
Clearly, the top command structure for Hamas is being targeted:
The targeted killings are “a clear message from Israel to Hamas that we can reach all of you,” said Avi Melamed, a fellow at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington and a former senior Israeli intelligence officer.
Melamed said the intelligence used to target the three commanders signals to Hamas that “there is a leak in its system somewhere, a system that until now was tight and compartmentalized.”
Clearly, there are Palestinian's in Gaza who are unhappy with Hamas and are providing intelligence to the Israeli's to take out the Hamas' top military commanders. And clearly, many have given their lives to rid Gaza from Hamas.
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