Israel Air Force planes fired a 250-kg. bomb at a three-story building in Gaza yesterday afternoon in an attempt to kill Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other top Hamas figures meeting there at the time. Though no one was seriously hurt, IDF sources said that the mission was not a failure: "The message was received, and Hamas leaders know that they are not safe anywhere."
Shortly afterwards, Yassin and other Hamas leaders threatened retaliation - including against top Israeli leaders.
Israeli sources said that the target was chosen because of the rare opportunity it presented to wipe out most of the top Hamas leadership in one shot. Also present at the meeting were Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Muhammed Def, Yassin's bodyguard and fellow terrorist Ismail Henya, and other top Hamas terrorists - though PA sources said that Rantisi and Def were not present.
Prime Minister Sharon, Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, and others of the top Israeli brass gave the mission their OK yesterday morning. It was decided to use a 250-kg. laser-guided bomb, instead of a one-ton bomb, in order to ensure that it would hit precisely and not cause "collateral damage." IDF sources said they did not want a repeat of the killing of Salah Shehade in July 2002, in which the large bomb did the trick - but also killed 11 others as well and aroused strong international criticism.
The decision was met with outspoken right-wing criticism, claiming that concern over how Israel would be portrayed in the media or the possible danger to "innocent civilians" had left the top Hamas leadership alive and could prove costly in terms of Jewish life in the future.
The targeted attack was in fact so precise that though the 3rd-floor apartment was totally destroyed, the terrorists - who had left the apartment just moments before and were already on the second story - escaped harm.
"The IDF and the security forces will continue to wage all-out war against Hamas and the other terrorist organizations," the IDF Spokesman said later last night. An unnamed IDF officer said, "We will keep trying until we get all the top leaders - and we will get them." Since the #2 bus massacre in Jerusalem two and a half weeks ago, Israel has killed about a dozen Hamas terrorists and leaders.
Yassin was lightly hurt in the hand, and was taken to a hospital in Gaza. IDF sources said he and his terrorist cohorts had been in the midst of planning and ordering another wave of terrorist attacks against Israel. Hordes of Hamas-flag-waving Arabs gathered in various parts of Gaza yesterday, promising revenge against Israel.
The attack came just hours after the European Union announced that it had decided to include all wings of Hamas in its list of terrorist organizations, and after Abu Mazen's resignation; see below.
Sheikh Yassin, 67, who founded Hamas in 1987, was imprisoned in Israel for a year in the mid-1980's, and then again in 1989. He was sentenced to life for inciting to terrorism and involvement in the abduction/murder of two soldiers. In 1997, however, when Israel's attempt to kill Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan failed, Yassin was released in exchange for the two Mossad agents who were involved. Yassin is on record as opposing the very concept of a Jewish state in Israel.