Israel Insider (www.israelinsider.com) reports that Salah Shehada, the leader of the Palestinian Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), responsible for hundreds of terrorist attacks and genocide bombings against unarmed Israeli civilians, has been killed.

Hamas military leader Salah Shehada was reported dead after Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired missiles at his home in Gaza City shortly after midnight. At least 15 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in the strike; over 100 people were injured. The Hamas vowed to revenge the assassination of its leader, while Israeli officials described him as a "ticking bomb," responsible for numerous attacks against Israelis.

Unfortunately, Palestinian civilians were also killed in the attack. Israeli radio reports that an intelligence mistake was made since it was believed no civilians were present in the building at the time of the attack.

In fact, last Saturday, two airplanes were on their way to execute the same mission when it was learned that Shehada's wife was in the building - causing the mission to be cancelled. Israel's chief of staff has announced he would have cancelled yesterday's mission had he known there were civilians present.

Israel's President, Moshe Katsav, has apologized for the mistake and the death of civilians. Parties across the Israeli political spectrum, from left to right, joined him in the expression of sorrow and regret for the death of the Palestinian civilians.

That said, the killing of Salah Shehada, who was the leader of the military wing of Hamas, and the most likely candidate to replace Sheik Yassin, is a great success for Israel. Shehada was responsible for the death of hundreds of unarmed Israeli civilians, including babies and kids, and continued to organize more suicide bombings.

To learn more about Hamas, click here to check Stefan Sharkansky's page which includes pictures and descriptions translated from the Hamas's official website.

I copy the full article below.

Hamas military leader killed in Gaza missile strike
By Ellis Shuman July 23, 2002
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?
enPage=ArticlePage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object
&enDispWho=Article%5El1267&enZone=Security&enVersion=0&

Hamas military leader Salah Shehada was reported dead after Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired missiles at his home in Gaza City shortly after midnight. At least 15 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in the strike; over 100 people were injured. The Hamas vowed to revenge the assassination of its leader, while Israeli officials described him as a "ticking bomb," responsible for numerous attacks against Israelis.

Initial reports indicated that Shehada had survived the attack, but Israeli officials dismissed the reports as Hamas propaganda. "We have confirmation that the leader of the military wing of Hamas, Sheikh Salah Shehada, was killed in this attack," senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh told Reuters.

Eyewitnesses said that two Israeli planes circled over Shehada's home for a number of minutes, and then one of them fired a missile at the building. "I fell out of my bed and I found myself a minute later covered in dust and stones, and the sounds of my children screaming and crying," Palestinian policeman Jamal Halaby told Reuters.

Palestinians said that a number of nearby buildings were destroyed as well. Gaza's Shifa Hospital released a list of 11 dead, but it did not include Shehada or any members of his family, contributing to the confusion over the exact number of dead.

Hamas vowed to avenge Shehada's assassination. Haniyeh said the organization "would take revenge for the martyrs. All the Palestinian people will unify to take revenge for the blood of the martyrs. Anyone who dreams of so-called peace is mistaken. There is nothing called 'peace with Israel.'"

Yesterday, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said Hamas would consider halting terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens if Israel withdraws from all Palestinian areas and stops targeting the Palestinian people. "Basically I call on the occupying army to leave all the West Bank towns and refrain from targeting Palestinians," Yassin told reporters in Gaza. "From the minute the occupation and all the acts against the Palestinian people stop, we will be willing to consider positively and seriously the suicide attacks."

According to military sources, Shehada was one of Hamas's most extreme members, and had rejected previous calls to limit suicide bombing attacks, Ha'aretz reported. He had reportedly challenged Yassin's leadership on several occasions, and was considered more radical than Hamas's spiritual leader.

The IDF Spokesman confirmed that Israeli jets attacked a terror target in the Gaza Strip. "During the strike, Saleh Shehada, the commander of the Hamas military wing in the Gaza Strip and one of its founders, was hit. Shehada is behind hundreds of terror attacks carried out during the past two years against the IDF and Israeli civilians, including the murder of the yeshiva students in Atzmona (March 2002) and the murder of the four IDF soldiers in the "Africa" position (January 2002)," the army said in a statement.

Shehada topped Israel's most-wanted list
Palestinian sources said that Shehada, 49, was the top name on Israel's "most wanted" list. Shehada founded Hamas's Izzadin al-Qassam military wing. In the 1980s he was arrested by Israel, and later he was held by the Palestinian Authority until his release from prison in 2000. He reportedly commanded all Hamas military actions in the Gaza Strip, and cooperated closely with two other men high on Israel's wanted list in the Strip - Mohammed Deif and Adnan el Roul.

The army attempted to target Shehada at his home in the northern Gaza Strip in December 2001, but he managed to escape. He told reporters that he knew he was targeted by the IDF, and that his wife and family were targeted as well.

The Palestinian Authority denounced the Israeli strike and called for international intervention to "stop these massacres." United Nations Chief Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that Israel has a legal and moral responsibility to take all measures to avoid the loss of innocent life. But, Eckhard said that Israel "clearly failed to do so in using a missile against an apartment building."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said this morning that the IAF strike was a "great success" but expressed regret for the loss of civilian lives. "We of course have no interest in striking civilians and are always sorry over civilians who were struck," Sharon told cabinet ministers at a government meeting. "But this operation, in my view, is one of the great successes and of course demands that we will all be on full alert (against further attacks by Hamas). We cannot reach any compromise with terror; terror must be fought."

Earlier, Foreign Ministry Deputy Director of Communication & Information Gideon Meir said the attack was targeted at "a known terrorist, one who was responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israeli citizens in recent years."

Meir expressed sorrow for the loss of Palestinian civilian lives in the attack. "To our great sorrow, in these operations, sometimes... civilians are also killed," he said.

Posted by David Melle
 Link to this page |   Email this entry |   digg this