Fayeq Abdel Raouf Al-Mabhouh [1] [upper-alpha 1] | |
---|---|
فائق عبد الرؤوف المبحوح | |
Director of Central Operations of the Palestinian Police in Gaza. [2] | |
Personal details | |
Born | 18 December 1968 [1] Jabalia refugee camp, Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip |
Died | 18 March 2024 55) Rimal,[ citation needed ] | (aged
Cause of death | Gunshot by IDF |
Political party | Hamas |
Spouse | Married after 2007. [1] |
Children | 2 sons (Ezzedeen and Mahmoud) and 2 daughters. [1] |
Parent | Father from Bayt Tima (Arabic: بيت طيما ) near Ashkelon [1] |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Palestine |
Rank | Brigadier General [3] [4] |
Commands | Palestinian Police, Gaza Strip |
Battles/wars | |
Hamas biographies |
---|
Map:Birthplaces and family origins. |
Brigadier General Fayeq Al-Mabhouh [upper-alpha 1] (Arabic : فائق المبحوح, romanized: Fā'iq Al-Mabḥūḥ; Hebrew : פאיק אל-מבחוח; 1968–2024) [3] [1] was the Director-General of Central Operations in the Ministry of the Interior and National Security in the Gaza Strip. [1] [6] He was the leader of their crisis management team. His most notable recent responsibilities related to civilian disaster management, such as coordination and enforcement of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. [4] [5] [7]
Media reports varied in the way they described his role at the time of his death, but he was most often described as a police officer, terrorist or the head of the Hamas government's "internal security" forces. [8] [9] He was killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a raid on Al-Shifa hospital. [10]
Mabhouh held the rank of brigadier general in the Hamas government's Ministry of the Interior and National Security. [3] He was not linked to the current military activities of Hamas's armed wing, [4] but he was one of the most influential people in managing the civilian activities of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. [4] His specific duties at the time of his death are disputed. [11] [12]
Israeli sources claimed that as the head of Hamas's internal security forces he was in charge of quashing political dissent across the Gaza Strip. [13] Some pro-Israel media claimed Mabhouh had been appointed to intimidate local Gazan clans in order to thwart them from cooperating with Israel on guarding the distribution of humanitarian aid, [14] and accused him of "orchestrating" the execution of the leader of the Doghmush clan the previous week. [14] [15] The clan allegedly denied this, and claimed the leader and his family were killed by an airstrike. [16] Both sides were competing to win over the clans. [17]
Palestinians said Mabhouh’s current position was the head of police in the Gaza strip and had been helping coordinate for aid deliveries to the northern regions of the Gaza Strip. [9] Palestinian media described him as the official responsible for coordinating with the tribes and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) to bring and secure humanitarian aid into northern Gaza. [18] Hamas released a statement that said that, the assassination came two days after successful efforts to bring 15 aid trucks into northern Gaza," and they accused the IDF of aiming to, "spread chaos and prevent aid from reaching Gaza City and the other northern governorates". [19]
Sources told The New Arab (UK edition): [20] "The occupation government had responded to the mediators earlier by saying that they did not mind the presence of some Palestinian police, with the aim of participating in the aid distribution process, but it seems that the occupation army was surprised by the level of organisation and the great success of the process of entering aid into the northernmost areas of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, more than four months after aid stopped arriving in those areas, which prompted him to forcefully enter that line to prevent any presence that indicates administrative and field control by the Hamas movement". [20]
His other recent work included leading the Crisis Management Team in the Ministry of Interior during the during COVID-19 pandemic. [4] [5] [7] Fayeq played a prominent role in communicating with the public about the changing situation. He regularly appeared in video announcements on Al-Aqsa TV and social media channels, and gave interviews to local media to explain changes in restrictions. The Gaza Strip restrictions took the "flattening the curve" approach of slowing the spread of infections rather than preventing them completely. [7] The restrictions imposed were similar to those imposed by most western countries, [5] and much more relaxed than China, Australia, or other Western Pacific nations that maintained a zero COVID policy. [5] They tried to avoid full lockdowns by implementing partial measures like weekend (Friday to Saturday) lockdowns and curfew, [5] [7] the Friday to Saturday lockdowns included mosques being closed for Friday prayers. But during times while the mosques were open, one creative measure initiated by Gaza’s ministry of health was to replace the mosque preachers with doctors who gave health information seminars. [21]
During an IDF raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Fayeq Mabhouh was killed in what sources based on reports from the IDF described as a firefight between Hamas militants and Israeli troops. [22] [10] [11] [23] but many Palestinian aligned sources describe as an assassination. [2] [24] [12] [18] They mostly don't dispute that Fayeq fired on the Israeli forces who approached him, but they frame the situation differently as to who was the aggressor. [1] [22] [25]
The raid was launched at approximately 2:30 am, by troops from the IDF’s 401st Armored Brigade and other units, including special forces and the Shin Bet security agency encircling the hospital. [22]
Before the IDF found Fayeq (in or near the hospital) they raided his family home and kicked out his wife and children. [1] [10] Fayeq’s brother was captured in a neighbourhood near the hospital. [1]
According to the IDF, Fayeq Mabhouh refused to surrender to troops and instead continued firing at Israeli security forces until he was killed. [14] The IDF initially claimed to have killed 20 other "terrorists" alongside Fayeq. [11] The IDF claimed that by the evening of Monday 18 March, their troops had killed 20 "Hamas" gunmen inside the hospital premises and another 20 were killed in the surrounding area. [22]
Some sources suggest that the gun battle happened outside the hospital. [1] The exact circumstances of his death are unverifiable.
They sides disagree on the implied or explicit purpose of removing Fayeq from power (and the war as a whole). Israeli-aligned sources frame it as removing a threat to Israel, [22] [13] [23] but there is no indication that he has had any role in attacks on Israel while working as part of Gaza's civilian administration. [4] [1] Palestinian aligned sources described the goal as the destruction of Palestine, [24] by starving the people, and preventing independent Palestinian control of the Gaza Strip. [24] International sources often came closer to the Palestinian framing of the situation or present that version of events as more credible. [17] [9]
The Israel Arabic account of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the X platform announced the killing of Al-Mabhouh, describing him as, "the head of the Operations Directorate of the Internal Security Service of the Hamas terrorist organization." [26]
Hamas released an extremely strongly worded statement, in which they claimed the killing of a civilian police officer was a violation of international law. [27] It read, in part:
"This terrorist crime, by targeting civilian police protected under international humanitarian law, is further evidence of the Nazi enemy’s efforts to spread chaos, undermine societal peace in the Gaza Strip, and perpetuate the state of famine from which our people suffer, in implementation of the plan of a war of extermination and the displacement of our people from their land". [27] [28] [29]
Arabic language social media speculated about the motives for the killing and the attack on the hospital, with comments such as, "The trucks passed over the past two days peacefully, without chaos, massacres, stampedes, wounded, or martyrs, but the criminal occupation does not like it." [26] It was rumoured that a large part of the Israeli motive was the failure of the Israeli plan to replace the police in Gaza with the clans (such as the Doghmush clan) to distribute aid and enforce the law. [26]
Fayeq was born in Jabalia refugee camp, [30] [1] He had 13 siblings including Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, [30] and another brother who was captured on the day Fayeq was killed. [1] Their father immigrated to the Jabalia camp in the Gaza Strip from the town of Beit Tima (near Ashkelon) in 1948. [1]
He joined Hamas as a young student, when they formed in 1988. [1] His early work with Hamas included student protests, and pursuing drug dealers with a group focused on enforcing an Islamic ideal of morality. [1] In 2007 he joined the civilian police force in the Gaza Strip. [1] Like many members of Hamas, he could speak fluent Hebrew. [31] [32]
He was married, with two sons, Ezzedeen and Mahmoud, and two daughters, Yara and Juri. [1]
Speaking about the assassination of his brother Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh the United Arab Emirates in 2010, Fayeq said, "He was very secretive about his work and kept his family life separate. He wasn’t in battle or fighting yet the Israelis killed him. As a family we have the right to know who killed him and have lawyers in different countries working on it and when they catch the killers, we want them to be brought to court." [33] He called on the Irish Government to expel the Israeli ambassador from Ireland, because the killers had used forged Irish passports. [33] The assassins entered the UAE using fake or fraudulently obtained passports (some stolen from Israeli dual nationals) including passports from the UK, Ireland, Australia, France, and Germany. [14] Israel attempted to deny responsibility, but this was widely disbelieved. [34]
Fayeq said that Israel had targeted his brother Mahmoud at least twice in the past. Six months before Mahmoud's death, Fayeq claimed, Mahmoud was poisoned during a visit to Dubai and was unconscious for 36 hours. In 2004, the day Ezzedeen Sheikh Khalil (who Haaretz describe as "a senior Hamas figure also involved in arms smuggling") was killed in Damascus, security cameras in Mahmoud's home showed a bomb under his vehicle, and he escaped. [35]
Fayek appealed to Sinn Fein (the political party in Northern Ireland) about his brother's death, "Ireland and Palestine have shared political experiences and I would like to thank the Irish people for your support especially your condemnation of Israel's war last year,"" (referring to the war in 2009). [36]
The Popular Resistance Committees is a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups opposed to what they regard as the conciliatory approach of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel.
Jamal Abu Samhadana, from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, was the founder and leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, a former Fatah and Tanzim member, and number two on Israel's list of wanted terrorists.
Ahmed al-Jabari, also known as Abu Mohammad, was a senior leader and second-in-command of the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was widely credited as the leading figure in the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, and commanded the 2006 Hamas cross-border raid which resulted in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Under his command, along with chief logistics officer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Hamas developed its own military weapons capability significantly by acquiring longer-range guided missiles and rockets.
Al-Shifa Hospital is the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, located in the neighborhood of northern Rimal in Gaza City.
The 2010 Gaza clashes were military clashes in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups that occurred in March 2010.
Events in the year 2010 in the Palestinian territories.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
Events in 2023 in the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Israel–Hamas war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attacks, Israel began the bombing of Gaza Strip; on 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, has two stated goals: to destroy Hamas and to free the hostages. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli operation began, including more than 7,800 children and 4,900 women, with another 10,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. There are allegations that Israel has committed war crimes and genocide during the invasion.
The siege of Gaza City began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, there are about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, were trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.
Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza, was placed under siege by Israel in mid-November 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war, after saying it had contained a Hamas command and control center beneath it. The incident was followed by a second major raid by Israeli forces in March 2024.
Hamas has been accused of using human shields in the Gaza Strip, purposely attempting to shield itself from Israeli attacks by storing weapons in civilian infrastructure, launching rockets from residential areas, and telling residents to ignore Israeli warnings to flee. Israel has accused Hamas of maintaining command and control bunkers and tunnel infrastructure below hospitals, with some of the accusations being supported by the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations Secretary General. Hamas has denied using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.
Al-Shifa Hospital is a government run hospital in Gaza City, Palestine, most of the staff are employees of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. During the Israel–Hamas war, Israel and the United States stated that a vast complex existed under al-Shifa hospital that was being used by Hamas as its "main operations base", which Hamas and hospital administrators denied. Following Israel's release of video evidence on 22 November, multiple news agencies concluded that the evidence did not demonstrate the use by Hamas of a command center, while Haaretz concluded that Hamas did use the hospital for military purposes. Amnesty International said on 23 November 2023 that "Amnesty International has so far not seen any credible evidence to support Israel’s claim that al-Shifa is housing a military command centre" and that "the Israeli military has so far failed to provide credible evidence" for the allegation. Izzat al-Risheq, a Hamas official, denied that the group used the hospital as a shield for its underground military structures, saying there was no truth to the claims.
Events in 2024 in the Palestinian territories.
The insurgency in the North Gaza Strip is an armed conflict centered in the North Gaza Governorate, around the besieged Gaza City after Israel announced it had dismantled 12 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades battalions on 7 January.
In March 2024, during the Israel–Hamas war, civilians seeking humanitarian aid were attacked at the Kuwait Roundabout near Gaza City. According to the Gaza’s health ministry, 20 Gazans were killed and 155 were wounded. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to the accusations saying they did not open in fire at the convoy, claiming that armed militants fired against the Gazan civilians while waiting for the aid convoy to arrive.
Yitzhar Hofman was an Israeli soldier who was a commander in the Israeli Air Force's elite Shaldag Unit.
During the Israel–Hamas war there have been a very large number of incidents of deliberate killings of people who were not actively engaged in combat. In addition to unarmed civilians, many of the soldiers and militants who were killed - and often reported simply as militants or soldiers, as if they died in combat - were not actively engaging in hostilities at their time of death. There have also been many alleged assassinations, summary executions, deaths in custody, or other extrajudicial killings, with varying amounts of evidence.
In response to a "fabricated" statement accusing Hamas of killing the mukhtar of the Daghmush family: The Central Family Council publishes a statement denying this statement and the accusation
…Gerry MacLochlainn has written to the Taoiseach Brian Cowen calling for action on the murder of the senior Hamas member. He said he was writing in support of an appeal from the dead man's brother Mr Fayeg al-Mabhouh.