TEL AVIV (October 15) - Snipers yesterday shot dead Abdel Rahman Hamad, 33, the Hamas terrorist who dispatched the suicide bomber to Tel Aviv's Dolphinarium in June. Twenty-one were killed in the attack.
Israel said he had been planning more attacks.
It was the first time that Israel has carried out a "targeted killing" since September 6.
The timing of the assassination came after the inner cabinet had decided to ease restrictions on the Palestinians, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he stands behind the orders to kill Hamad.
"Today, after a lengthy effort, we were successful in liquidating the person who was responsible for sending the suicide bomber who caused the murder of 21 young men and women," Sharon said. "He is not the first nor the last. We have clarified our position on this matter. It is clear and this is how we will act."
Sharon was speaking to absorption workers of the regional councils.
The snipers shot Hamad twice in the chest as he stood on the roof of his house in Kalkilya, said city Governor Mustafa Malki. He had apparently just finished his morning prayers. His house is only a few hundred meters from the Green Line.
The IDF refused to say whether its forces killed Hamad. Israel Radio said he was killed by snipers from an elite police unit.
Military sources said Hamad had been responsible for the Dolphinarium attack and a suicide bombing at the Neveh Yamin gas station which killed two children.
The sources said that Hamad had been planning more bombings, and his name was on a list of terrorists given to the Palestinian Authority with demands they be arrested.
The PA had detained Hamad after the Dolphinarium bombing but released him on August 5, after which he immediately organized a number of suicide bombings that were to have take place in coming days, military sources said.
Hamas threatened to retaliate for Hamad's killing.
"Israel will pay a very heavy price for this act," senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantissi told Reuters. "We will definitely respond very painfully."
Rantissi also threatened Sharon, saying: "Sharon you will not be safe. Sharon and your people will be attacked anywhere and at any time."
Hamad's funeral in Kalkilya drew thousands, some shooting wildly into the air of. Some reportedly carried leaflets saying: "Revenge, revenge," and "No to the cease-fire."
"The assassination today is a clear indicator that all the Israeli claims that they want to achieve peace and uphold the cease-fire are just lies," said PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Hamad was considered a senior member of Hamas in the Kalkilya area and was one of the hundreds of Hamas activists deported by prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to Lebanon for his involvement in the 1994 suicide bombing on the No. 5 bus in Tel Aviv. The IDF had arrested Hamad seven times.
"I don't know about assassinations," said Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer. "I do know one thing, our policy... is that we will continue to combat terror in every shape and way, and we will certainly fight those terrorists and of course the masterminds, who not only carried out their deeds in the past but who are planning attacks for now.
"We are working on two parallel paths. One is the continued war on terror without any concessions. The other is to give concessions to the civilians that this government has declared from its first day. We will ease up on the population wherever we can."
A senior government official said that the killing of Hamad took place yesterday, because "the opportunity presented itself," and not because the government was trying to send a message to the Palestinians that even though a decision was made to ease restrictions, the fight against terror will continue unabated.
"If it was possible to have done this before, it would have been done before," the official said.
When asked if the killing does not now present problems for the government as it tries to reach a truce with he PA, he said, "And if there would be suicide bombers, that would not cause a problem?"
A PA source said Israel must expect retaliatory attacks from Hamas, saying that it is impossible for the PA to convince Islamic militants to stop attacks on Israelis if Israel continues its policy of killing militants inside areas under full Palestinian control.
A senior PA security officer stressed that the PA is committed to the cease-fire and will take actions to prevent attacks, but he also predicted that Hamas would try to avenge Hamad.
He said the Palestinians would raise the issue of assassinations at last night's security meeting, since it was a breech of the cease-fire agreement.
(Herb Keinon and Lamia Lahoud contributed to this report.)
We need to do this to Osama bin Laden and his gang!!!
Israel said he had been planning more attacks.
It was the first time that Israel has carried out a "targeted killing" since September 6.
The timing of the assassination came after the inner cabinet had decided to ease restrictions on the Palestinians, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he stands behind the orders to kill Hamad.
"Today, after a lengthy effort, we were successful in liquidating the person who was responsible for sending the suicide bomber who caused the murder of 21 young men and women," Sharon said. "He is not the first nor the last. We have clarified our position on this matter. It is clear and this is how we will act."
Sharon was speaking to absorption workers of the regional councils.
The snipers shot Hamad twice in the chest as he stood on the roof of his house in Kalkilya, said city Governor Mustafa Malki. He had apparently just finished his morning prayers. His house is only a few hundred meters from the Green Line.
The IDF refused to say whether its forces killed Hamad. Israel Radio said he was killed by snipers from an elite police unit.
Military sources said Hamad had been responsible for the Dolphinarium attack and a suicide bombing at the Neveh Yamin gas station which killed two children.
The sources said that Hamad had been planning more bombings, and his name was on a list of terrorists given to the Palestinian Authority with demands they be arrested.
The PA had detained Hamad after the Dolphinarium bombing but released him on August 5, after which he immediately organized a number of suicide bombings that were to have take place in coming days, military sources said.
Hamas threatened to retaliate for Hamad's killing.
"Israel will pay a very heavy price for this act," senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantissi told Reuters. "We will definitely respond very painfully."
Rantissi also threatened Sharon, saying: "Sharon you will not be safe. Sharon and your people will be attacked anywhere and at any time."
Hamad's funeral in Kalkilya drew thousands, some shooting wildly into the air of. Some reportedly carried leaflets saying: "Revenge, revenge," and "No to the cease-fire."
"The assassination today is a clear indicator that all the Israeli claims that they want to achieve peace and uphold the cease-fire are just lies," said PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Hamad was considered a senior member of Hamas in the Kalkilya area and was one of the hundreds of Hamas activists deported by prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to Lebanon for his involvement in the 1994 suicide bombing on the No. 5 bus in Tel Aviv. The IDF had arrested Hamad seven times.
"I don't know about assassinations," said Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer. "I do know one thing, our policy... is that we will continue to combat terror in every shape and way, and we will certainly fight those terrorists and of course the masterminds, who not only carried out their deeds in the past but who are planning attacks for now.
"We are working on two parallel paths. One is the continued war on terror without any concessions. The other is to give concessions to the civilians that this government has declared from its first day. We will ease up on the population wherever we can."
A senior government official said that the killing of Hamad took place yesterday, because "the opportunity presented itself," and not because the government was trying to send a message to the Palestinians that even though a decision was made to ease restrictions, the fight against terror will continue unabated.
"If it was possible to have done this before, it would have been done before," the official said.
When asked if the killing does not now present problems for the government as it tries to reach a truce with he PA, he said, "And if there would be suicide bombers, that would not cause a problem?"
A PA source said Israel must expect retaliatory attacks from Hamas, saying that it is impossible for the PA to convince Islamic militants to stop attacks on Israelis if Israel continues its policy of killing militants inside areas under full Palestinian control.
A senior PA security officer stressed that the PA is committed to the cease-fire and will take actions to prevent attacks, but he also predicted that Hamas would try to avenge Hamad.
He said the Palestinians would raise the issue of assassinations at last night's security meeting, since it was a breech of the cease-fire agreement.
(Herb Keinon and Lamia Lahoud contributed to this report.)
We need to do this to Osama bin Laden and his gang!!!
u'd think he'd still be in hiding, or atleast be discrete
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