Hamas flags on display at funeral of Eli attack perpetrator
The Hamas terror group had a clear presence at the funeral of one of the perpetrators of Tuesday’s terror attack at Eli.
In the attack, two gunmen opened fire at a gas station and adjacent hummus restaurant near the settlement, killing four Israelis and wounding another four. One of the gunmen was shot dead at the scene, while another fled and was killed by security forces hours later.
A nighttime video filmed at Khaled Sabah’s funeral procession in the village of Urif showed Hamas operatives waving the group’s green flags, chanting that Hamas is their “army” and the Quran their “constitution,” and shouting the name of Muhammad Deif, commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
It was a relatively rare display of force for Hamas in the West Bank, and a possible show of its increasing hold on the region’s north. The terrorist group has ruled over the Gaza Strip since it ousted Fatah from power there in a violent coup in 2007, and has full control over civilian and military activities in the enclave. However, its operations in the West Bank, which is controlled by the rival Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, have been kept under the radar.
A Hamas spokesman claimed responsibility for the Eli attack on Tuesday, describing it as a “heroic” response to the deaths of seven Palestinians during heavy clashes between gunmen and Israeli troops in Jenin on Monday. Hamas said both the terrorists were its members.
Channel 12’s Palestinian affairs correspondent Ohad Hemo said the attack had apparently been planned, directed and financed by Hamas in Gaza. This would mark an upgrade in the group’s activities in the West Bank.
The attack is seen as being part of a wider strategy by the group to escalate tensions in the West Bank and portray itself as the true face of the Palestinian “resistance,” in contrast to the ruling Palestinian Authority, which much of the Palestinian public perceives as weak, corrupt and ineffective.
According to a recent survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, if elections were held today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would receive support from 56% of the Palestinian population while current PA President Mahmoud Abbas would win only 33%. The PA has blocked elections from being held in the Palestinian territories since 2006.
In the attack, the two Hamas terrorists opened fire at a gas station and an adjacent hummus restaurant near the settlement of Eli, killing Harel Masood, 21, Elisha Anteman, 17, Ofer Fayerman, 64, and Shmuel Mordoff, 17. One of the terrorists, Muhannad Faleh Shehadeh, 26, was shot dead at the scene by an armed Israeli civilian, while the second, Khaled Mustafa Sabah, 24, stole a vehicle from one of the victims and fled the scene. He was killed some two hours later by Israeli special forces near the Palestinian village of Tubas.
A spokesman for the terrorist group claimed that the attack was in response to the deaths of the Palestinians in Jenin on Monday. A joint IDF and Border Police operation to arrest two wanted Palestinians escalated when gunmen started shooting at the soldiers, resulting in heavy exchanges of fire. As security forces were exiting the city, a military vehicle was hit by an explosive device, damaging the vehicle and wounding seven soldiers. The wounded soldiers were evacuated by helicopter to hospitals inside Israel.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been elevated for the past year, with the military carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank, amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
Repeated raids have been carried out in Jenin to apprehend terror suspects. Monday’s raid was the deadliest since January, when nine Palestinians were killed and several wounded during a gun battle between the IDF and gunmen.
Source » timesofisrael
