Jamal Abu Samhadana | |
|---|---|
| جمال أبو سمهدانة | |
| Director General of the Executive Force | |
| In office 20 April 2006 –8 June 2006 | |
| President | Mahmoud Abbas |
| Prime Minister | Ismail Haniyeh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 February 1963 Rafah,Gaza Strip |
| Died | 8 June 2006 (aged 43) Rafah,Gaza Strip |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Political party | Hamas [ citation needed ] |
| Occupation | politician |
| Known for | Founding and leading the Popular Resistance Committees |
Jamal Abu Samhadana (Arabic :جمالأبوسمهدانة,8 February 1963 –8 June 2006),from Rafah in the Gaza Strip,was the founder and leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, [1] a former Fatah and Tanzim member,and number two on Israel's list of wanted terrorists.
Abu Samhadana survived an Israeli missile strike in the Gaza Strip in December 2004, [2] but was killed by the Israeli Air Force on 8 June 2006.
On 20 April 2006,Abu Samhadana was appointed Director General of the Executive Force,a new security forces in Gaza,by Said Seyam,Interior Minister of the Palestinian National Authority's new Hamas-led government. [3] [4] Abu Samhadana was quoted as saying that "We have only one enemy. They are Jews. We have no other enemy. I will continue to carry the rifle and pull the trigger whenever required to defend my people." [5]
The appointment "sparked new criticism from the U.S. and Israel and intensified the struggle for control of some 70,000 Palestinian security forces" between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas. [6] Abbas subsequently issued a decree banning the formation of the Executive Force that Abu Samhadana was to have headed. [7] However,Hamas defied the President's decree and proceeded with the nomination and the formation of the force.
Although Israel acknowledged that Hamas was largely sticking to a ceasefire, [8] on 8 June 2006,he was assassinated,along with at least three other PRC members,by four missiles fired by Israeli Apache helicopters,guided by Israeli reconnaissance drones,at a PRC camp in Rafah. [9] [10]
At his funeral Samhadana’s supporters called for revenge. [11] Hours after his assassination rockets were fired at Sderot in Israel. [12] The IDF retaliated by bombarding the launch sites on a Gaza beach. During the bombardment period,the civilian Ghalia family was all but wiped out in an explosion. [13] Analysts trace the Samhadana assassination to the rocket fire (on Sderot),through a series of IDF shellings,rocket attacks and commando raids on Gaza that killed over three dozen people,mostly civilians,to the capture of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25. [8] Two days after Shalit's capture,the IDF launched Operation Summer Rains killing over 400 Palestinians and wounding 650. [8]
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Fatah and their splinter groups | |
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