(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)
Now released for publication: Alaa Jihad Ouad Abu Madif, a resident of Karara located near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, was arrested on 15 April in a joint IDF-ISA operation. Iranian-trained Abu Madif, a member of the Abu Rish faction which splintered from the PLO in the 1990s, was involved in rocket attacks against Israel and was an intended suicide-bomber against IDF forces.
Abu Madif participated in a month-long military training course in Iran in May 2007, after being recruited to the Abu Rish faction a short time previously.
Abu Rish activists in the Gaza Strip are in constant contact with terror handlers in Lebanon, and are involved in the current conflict with Israel. Their main activities include high-trajectory rocket firing and laying of anti-personnel explosive devices.
Abu Madif was one of a group of activists that left Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, and then flew from Cairo to Damascus and then on to Iran. In Iran, they were transferred to isolated military encampments in a mountainous region where they underwent comprehensive military training.
The military training included physical training, navigation, weapons training (including light and heavy weapons operation, anti-tank weapons, hand grenades), target practice, assembly and operation of explosive devices and indoctrination lessons defining Israel and the USA as the sources of evil. They were also instructed in covert activities, such as discovering and losing a tail, etc.
Upon his return to Gaza after the Hamas takeover, (September-October 2007) Abu Madif participated in a series of rocket attacks against Israel, and agreed on two separate occasions to participate in a suicide bombing attack against IDF forces at the Kissufim crossing. He was filmed for these attacks, but they were never carried out.
Abu Madif's interrogation throws light on the deep Iranian involvement in the encouragement of terror against Israel and in its support, its financing, and its military training for the activists of the various terror organizations operating in Gaza against Israel. Syrian aid and assistance in the transfer of activists to Iran is also emphasized.