In a combined operation, Shin Bet and the IDF have targeted Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas’ military wing in the Gaza Strip. Jabri was a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelons of the Hamas’ command and was directly responsible for financing and executing terror attacks against the State of Israel. This operation sends a clear message to Hamas and other terrorist organisations in the region that, should the violence against Israeli citizens continue, Israel will be forced to strike.

 

Over the past few years, Jabri commanded Hamas’ military wing, and is responsible for the chain of events that saw Hamas’ takeover in Gaza and is complicit with all major violent escalations against Israel. In 2006, Jabari masterminded the attack that led to the murder of Israeli soldiers and the brutal capture of Gilad Shalit. As head of Hamas’ negotiations team, Jabri personally prevented the release of Gilad Shalit for over five years. Jabri, 52, lived in Gaza and was heavily involved in countless military actions since the beginning of the 1980′s and has served as the senior official within Hamas’ military wing. He had close connections with Sheikh Yassin, who had personally endorsed Jabri’s acts of terror.

 

From 1982 until January 1995 he was arrested and imprisoned in Israel for his terrorist activities. During this time he joined Hamas, serving as the representative for all Hamas and Islamic Jihad members in his prison. His long duration in prison, and close proximity with other radical leaders, in combination with his own extreme ideology, has allowed him to assume a very prominent position within the Hamas leadership. In 1995, after his release, in his capacity as director of the “Noor Association”, he orchestrated a widespread monetary transfer scheme, supported by Sheikh Yassin, to fund released terrorist prisoners, their families and the family members of suicide bombers.

 

Since his release, he has been involved in multiple terrorist activities in his capacity as a military commander, coordinating a network of terrorist cells in their weapons smuggling operations, and delivering the strategic operations through the Hamas hierarchy. The worst terrorist atrocities that Israel has experienced in recent times have been a direct result of his involvement.