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Salah Shehade
Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade (or Shehadeh, Shahadeh; Arabic: صلاح شحادة; 24 February 1953 – 22 July 2002) was a Palestinian militant and political leader who was a member of the Islamist movement Hamas. He led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas, until his assassination by Israel.
Born in Gaza and a member of Hamas since the formation of the group in 1987, Shehade quickly became one of its most influential leaders. He was arrested twice by Israeli authorities in 1984 and 1988. After Yahya Ayash's death, in 1996, Shehade became a top leader in the group, along with Mohammed Deif and Adnan al-Ghoul.[citation needed]
During the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel accused Shehade of masterminding several attacks against both Israeli soldiers and civilians in the Gaza Strip and in Israel proper. He was given a twelve-year prison sentence but was released on 14 May 2000. It was reported that Shehade was involved in the production of Qassam rockets, fired against Israeli civilian targets, and other homemade weapons, as well as smuggling military equipment into Gaza.
Shehade led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas during a period which saw a campaign of suicide attacks against Israeli civilian targets which caused the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians. As the leader of the Hamas military wing, he oversaw Hamas field commanders in Gaza and the West Bank and defined the policy of terror attacks by Hamas.
On 22 July 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted the house in which Shehade was living, using a one-ton bomb dropped by an F-16 plane in a quarter in the al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City. Eight houses were completely destroyed, nine partially destroyed and another twenty were damaged. Fifteen people were killed, including Shehade, his wife and daughter, as well as seven members of the Matar family who lived in the next door. Seven children were among the dead. Between 50 and 150 were injured as a result of the attack.
Twenty-seven reserve pilots, including Iftach Spector, signed a pilots' letter refusing to fly assassination sorties over Gaza and the West Bank in protest of the operation.
The attack received widespread condemnation from other Middle Eastern nations, Western Europe, and the United States. Ariel Sharon initially praised it as "one of our greatest successes", but later told Yediot Ahronot that "[H]ad I known the outcome, I would have postponed the assassination." Hady Amr wrote: "150 million children and youth in the Arab World now have televisions, and they will never, never forget what the Israeli people, the Israeli military and Israeli democracy have done to Palestinian children."
Human rights organizations around the world, including in Israel, severely criticized the attack, proclaiming that the intentional dropping of a one-ton bomb in the middle of the night on a dense civilian neighborhood is tantamount to a war crime. The Gush Shalom movement also threatened to turn the pilot over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Israeli Air Force chief Dan Halutz, who was abroad during the bombing itself but was still accountable as IAF commander, gave an interview to Haaretz, published on 21 August 2002. To his pilots he said:
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Salah Shehade
Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade (or Shehadeh, Shahadeh; Arabic: صلاح شحادة; 24 February 1953 – 22 July 2002) was a Palestinian militant and political leader who was a member of the Islamist movement Hamas. He led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas, until his assassination by Israel.
Born in Gaza and a member of Hamas since the formation of the group in 1987, Shehade quickly became one of its most influential leaders. He was arrested twice by Israeli authorities in 1984 and 1988. After Yahya Ayash's death, in 1996, Shehade became a top leader in the group, along with Mohammed Deif and Adnan al-Ghoul.[citation needed]
During the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel accused Shehade of masterminding several attacks against both Israeli soldiers and civilians in the Gaza Strip and in Israel proper. He was given a twelve-year prison sentence but was released on 14 May 2000. It was reported that Shehade was involved in the production of Qassam rockets, fired against Israeli civilian targets, and other homemade weapons, as well as smuggling military equipment into Gaza.
Shehade led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas during a period which saw a campaign of suicide attacks against Israeli civilian targets which caused the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians. As the leader of the Hamas military wing, he oversaw Hamas field commanders in Gaza and the West Bank and defined the policy of terror attacks by Hamas.
On 22 July 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted the house in which Shehade was living, using a one-ton bomb dropped by an F-16 plane in a quarter in the al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City. Eight houses were completely destroyed, nine partially destroyed and another twenty were damaged. Fifteen people were killed, including Shehade, his wife and daughter, as well as seven members of the Matar family who lived in the next door. Seven children were among the dead. Between 50 and 150 were injured as a result of the attack.
Twenty-seven reserve pilots, including Iftach Spector, signed a pilots' letter refusing to fly assassination sorties over Gaza and the West Bank in protest of the operation.
The attack received widespread condemnation from other Middle Eastern nations, Western Europe, and the United States. Ariel Sharon initially praised it as "one of our greatest successes", but later told Yediot Ahronot that "[H]ad I known the outcome, I would have postponed the assassination." Hady Amr wrote: "150 million children and youth in the Arab World now have televisions, and they will never, never forget what the Israeli people, the Israeli military and Israeli democracy have done to Palestinian children."
Human rights organizations around the world, including in Israel, severely criticized the attack, proclaiming that the intentional dropping of a one-ton bomb in the middle of the night on a dense civilian neighborhood is tantamount to a war crime. The Gush Shalom movement also threatened to turn the pilot over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Israeli Air Force chief Dan Halutz, who was abroad during the bombing itself but was still accountable as IAF commander, gave an interview to Haaretz, published on 21 August 2002. To his pilots he said: