A senior Hamas militant was shot dead near his home in the Palestinian enclave over the weekend, an assassination Hamas said was committed by Israel. Mazen Fuqaha, a convicted terrorist whom Israel released in a prisoner swap deal in 2011 and exiled to the Gaza Strip, was according to Hamas, shot several times by assassins that probably received assistance from Palestinian collaborators in the Gaza Strip.
“We believe what happened was an assassination in form and content. The only beneficiary of the assassination of this Mujahed (Muslim Fighter) is the (Israeli) occupation. The (Hamas) security services began an investigation. We are waiting to see the results of this investigation, but no one is benefiting from assassinating a Palestinian Mujahed (Muslim Fighter) except the occupation,” Khalil Al-Haya, Hamas Deputy Chief in Gaza.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the incident, but a senior IDF official told TV7 that whether Israel was behind the assassination or not, Hamas must understand that whoever seeks to harm the Jewish state and its citizens will not be able to hide. The official emphasized that Israel’s security establishment will use all the tools available to it to assure the security of its peoples.