Ahmed Jabari

Ahmed al-Jabari (Arabic: أحمد الجعبري, born 1960, died November 14, 2012) was the second-in-command of the military wing of Hamas. He has been credited as the leader in the takeover of the territory by Hamas and the firing of Qassam rockets into Israel. Jabari is also a high-ranking official within Hamas' political leadership and is the founder of the Nur Association which aims to help "martyrs and prisoners.”. He was killed in an Israeli Air Force airstrike on the 14 of November, which was claimed by Shin Bet.

Early life

Jabari was born to a family based in the Shuja'iyya district of Gaza City. He graduated from Gaza's Islamic University with a degree in history. In 1982, Jabari was arrested and imprisoned by Israeli authorities while he was a member of the secular Palestinian militant organization Fatah. While serving 13 years in prison, he left Fatah and joined Hamas after meeting with some of the latter's founders who were also incarcerated at the time, namely Abd al-Aziz Rantissi, Nizar Rayyan and Salah Shehadeh. He later married Shehadeh's daughter.

Hamas

Due to his involvement with Hamas' military activities in the Gaza Strip, Jabari was arrested by the Preventive Security Force of the Palestinian Authority in 1998. He was released in late 1999. In 2002, after an Israeli airstrike wounded Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas' principal armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Jabari became the operational head of the militant wing at the height of the Second Intifada (the armed Palestinian uprising against Israel from 2000-2007.) However, Deif remains its official head. According to Hamas political leader Ayman Taha, since Jabari took over the al-Qassam Brigades' day-to-day operations, Hamas' armed wing has become increasingly professional. In 2004, Jabari's eldest son Mohammed, his brother and three of his cousins were killed in an Israeli air strike against Jabari's home in an apparent assassination attempt against him.

It is widely believed that Jabari played the leading role in Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007. During Israel's offensive Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip in December 2008, Jabari's home was allegedly destroyed in an airstrike, but the circumstances surrounding the incident were unclear. In September 2010, Jabari threatened to increase attacks against Israel to derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. "With the power of faith, weapons and missiles, tunnels and commandos we will achieve victory for Palestine and we'll end the occupation in Gaza too," he said.

Jabari was in charge of overseeing the imprisonment of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Palestinian militants in 2006 outside of the Gaza Strip; two other soldiers were killed. When a prisoners-exchange was arranged handing back Shalit to Israel in return for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in October 2011, Jabari personally escorted Shalit to the Rafah Crossing with Egypt, making a rare public appearance. Abu Hudaifa, a close confidante, noted that Jabari "followed the mission until the end in minute detail, by himself." In an interview with al-Hayat newspaper, Jabari confirmed that most of the 477 prisoners released in the first part of the prisoner exchange were collectively responsible for the deaths of 569 Israeli civilians.

Death

Was assassinated by the Israeli Defense Forces in an airstrike, November 14, 2012 in Gaza, which followed over a hundred rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israeli cities over a four day period, as well as Israeli retaliatory strikes. At the same time, his driver was seriously wounded. Shin Bet claimed the attack. Hamas' Lebanon representative Osama Hamdan said that it was likely Israel was targetting the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.