Hamas terrorist group paid family to claim baby was killed by tear gas

Mahmoud Omar, charged with various terror-related offenses, tells interrogators his cousin Layla had a fatal blood condition that runs in the family.

A 20-year-old Palestinian indicted Thursday on terror-related charges told Israeli investigators during his interrogation that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had paid his relatives to tell the media that his baby cousin had died of tear gas inhalation.

On May 28, IDF forces arrested Mahmoud Omar along with another member of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, after they attempted to infiltrate into Israel and torch an unmanned IDF post, the Southern District Attorney’s indictment against him said.

Omar had been serving as the lookout as two other members of his squad were to cut through the fence and cross through into Israel. The group did not manage to carry out the attack as they came under IDF fire. Israeli forces captured Omar and one other accomplice, while the third attacker managed to flee, according to the indictment.

IDF troops found wire-cutters as well as a bottle of gasoline and a video camera at the scene.

During his questioning, Omar told interrogators the details of the planned attack as well as his involvement in various other terror-related activities.

The suspect also disclosed that he was related to Layla Ghandour, the 9-month-old baby whose May 14 death was originally reported to have been caused by inhalation of tear gas sprayed by Israeli forces at Gaza border protesters.

According to the indictment, Omar told authorities that two weeks prior to his arrest, he had been among the 40,000 Gazans taking part in protests at the border when his mother called to inform him that his baby cousin had died.

Upon arriving home shortly thereafter, the suspect was told that Layla had died of a blood disease similar to the one that took the life of the deceased infant’s brother, who succumbed to the condition at the same age in 2017.

However, Omar told authorities, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar paid Layla’s parents, Miriam and Anwar Ghandour, NIS 8,000 ($2,206) to tell the media that the infant had died due to tear gas inhalation at the Gaza protests.

Among the charges filed by the Southern District Attorney’s Office against Omar were allegations of membership in a terror organization, military training for terror purposes, rioting, attempted infiltration, attempted arson and damaging IDF property.

The indictment claimed that Omar had been promised financial aid for his family in return for joining the Mujahideen, a branch of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which Israel and the US both deem to be a terror organization.

The suspect had allegedly been active in the Mujahideen throughout the course of 2017 and had carried out guard duty, during which he had been instructed to fire at IDF forces if they approached the border.

The prosecution said that in a hearing Thursday afternoon it would request that Omar be remanded until the end of proceedings against him.

Thursday’s indictment was filed less than a month after the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that Layla’s death remained under investigation. Gaza medical officials had cast doubt on initial claims that she had died from Israeli tear gas.

On the day of Layla’s death on May 14, the health ministry initially said she died from tear gas fired by Israeli forces. But after her funeral the following day, a medical official told the AP news agency that he believed a serious preexisting medical condition was to blame for her death.

Reports that she had died from tear gas fired by Israeli troops during mass protests on the Gaza border were prominent in global news coverage of the violence for much of the day she died. Her funeral was filmed and featured on global TV news broadcasts and newspaper front pages.

The health ministry initially included Layla on its list of the 62 people killed during protests on May 14 and 15, before removing it later that month.

The ministry said it was referring the case to the forensic medicine department to issue a ruling. Hamas’s Justice Ministry, which controls the forensic medicine department, said it ended its investigation and referred the file to Gaza’s attorney general. Both authorities have since declined to comment.

Source: TOI