Israel Targets Hamas, Jihad Specialists

Israel has launched an assassination campaign against
rocket specialists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Israeli sources have asserted that the Israeli intelligence community
has identified more than 100 rocket specialists of Hamas and the
Iranian-sponsored Jihad. They said the intelligence community and military
would seek to kill a significant portion of them to hamper the Palestinian
missile and rocket industry in the Gaza Strip.

“There have been efforts in the past, but we expect this to intensify as
long as they improve their weapons capabilities against us,” a source said.

In August 2014, Israel’s Channel 2 television reported that Military
Intelligence and the Israel Security Agency were ordered to locate and kill
the Palestinian rocket developers. The television, quoting so-called foreign
sources, said the focus was on several dozen Gazan engineers responsible for
missiles and engines.

“They are behind the expanding arsenal of Hamas and Jihad,” the report
said.

During the 50-day war, Israel’s military reported the killing of a range
of Hamas and Jihad rocket squad commanders. They included at least two major
Hamas rocket specialists, targeted near Gaza City and identified as Hamas’
Ahmed Mabhouh and Jihad’s Amer Erhim. Both men were also said to lead
weapons tunnel squads.

The head of Hamas’ rocket development was identified as Haiman Siyam. In
July 2014, the Israel Air Force fired an air-to-ground missile that targeted
what was mistakenly believed to have been Siyam’s car.

“There is clearly a need to improve intelligence on these people,” the
source said.