Guided by information obtained by
the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency], an IAF aircraft fired missiles at a
building in Rafah that housed Ra'ad Atar and Muhammad Abu Shamalah, killing
them both, security forces said. A third
Hamas terrorist, Muhammed Barhoum, described by security sources as an abettor
to the senior Hamas members, was also killed in the strike. "This strike represents a very
significant intelligence achievement, and an intelligence infiltration." The attack came after the Shin Bet received
intelligence on the location, describing the targets as men who were senior and central members of Hamas's
military wing.
Abu Shamalah, 39, was the most
senior Hamas leader in southern Gaza (and was dubbed as "Hamas's southern
commander" by the Shin Bet). He was responsible for operations in all of
Rafah and Khan Younes. The Shin Bet said he commanded over all combat in his
sector, and was a long-time member of Hamas's core leadership in the Izzadin
Al-Kassam Brigades. He began terrorist activities in
the early 1990s with Hamas military wing chief Muhammed Deif, and was directly
involved in carrying out and orchestrating dozens of attacks on Israel,
including the murder of an IDF officer in Rafah in 1994, an attack that killed
six soldiers with bomb-laden tunnels in 2004, and orchestrating a bombing of the
Kerem Shalom border crossing in 2008, in which booby trapped jeeps were used.
Thirteen soldiers were injured in that attack. Abu Shamalah was one of the main
planners of the Kerem Shalom tunnel attack in 2006, in which two IDF soldiers
were killed and Gilad Schalit was kidnapped.
During the current war, he was responsible for overseeing the
infiltration of 13 Hamas terrorists into Israel via a tunnel in the Kibbutz
Sufa area. Ra'ad Atar, 39, was a Hamas brigade commander in southern Gaza, and
a senior member of the military wing. The Shin Bet said he was an architect of
the Hamas offensive tunnel network in south Gaza. He served as a commander of Hamas operations
in his sector, and headed attacks on the Kerem Hashalom and Sufa regions in
Israel.
Atar took part in a long line of
deadly attacks on IDF soldiers over the past twenty years, including: an attack
in July 2004 on the Israel - Egypt border that killed an IDF officer; planning
and carrying out a plot to bomb an IDF post which killed four soldiers; and
taking part and planning an infiltration of an IDF post near Kerem Shalom that
killed four soldiers. "Since then,
he was involved in commanding and orchestrating many bombings," the Shin
Bet said. "Atar headed the Rafah brigade, which killed and kidnapped the
body of Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin, and was involved in additional incidents in
which IDF soldiers were harmed during Operation Protective Edge," the
intelligence agency said.
Barhoum, 45, dealt in arms
smuggling on behalf of Hamas's Rafah brigade. In the past, he took part in
raising terrorist finances and spent years in Syria. Thousands attended the funeral of the men in
Rafah as Hamas vowed to avenge their deaths.
According to Palestinian media reports , three suspected collaborators
were executed by Hamas for helping Israeli intelligence find the location of
the Hamas leaders.
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