.Alleged militant sheds light on Hamas operations in Gaza Strip
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Hebrew-language daily newspaper Ma’ariv published what it claimed to be confessions made by a Hamas-affiliated detainee on Friday.
The young detainee, 20-year-old Mohammad Al-Imasi of Jabalia, was described by the newspaper as among the most important, active and trained among those who were detained during the latest Israeli assault on Gaza.
It published a summary of his confessions to Israeli interrogators regarding his alleged activity with Hamas, particularly with its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and details of Hamas’ plans to thwart a then-potential Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Concerning his alleged membership in the Islamic movement’s armed wing, the newspaper quoted the “baby-faced and shy young man” as saying that he joined the organization at the age of 12, while still a student in primary school.
“One day when I went out of one of the mosques I met affiliates of Hamas who offered to let me join religion classes, which I immediately accepted. Over a year I studied the Qur’an every day, in addition to lessons on fighting the Israelis through suicide bombings,” he reportedly said.
The newspaper alleges he was taught to “kick the Israelis out of Palestine,” and at the end of that year “I was taken to the house of one of the sheikhs who was [with] Hamas, where I swore to be loyal; he told me that ‘from this moment, you have become a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.’”
The young man reportedly went on to say that by the age of 15 he joined Hamas groups operating in the Strip, including the monitoring of the movement of Israeli soldiers, and remaining ready “to confront any invasion into Gaza,” explaining that “rumors were rampant about the possibility that a group of soldiers might go inside Gaza and that it was our duty to be prepared to confront them and to kill them—no matter what.”
“To achieve this we installed monitoring points alongside Gaza’s borders and watched the soldiers’ movements,” he reportedly explained.
But years later he stopped activities with Hamas in order to prepare for his senior exams, but after completing them, went back to Hamas leaders and asked to rejoin the Al-Qassam Brigades.
“Shortly before the war on Gaza in 2008 I joined military training in a soccer field, where we had physical exercises like crawling, running and operating roadside explosives and anti-individual and tank charges,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Eventually, the young man joined a group of would-be suicide bombers that was formed in groups of 20 fighters to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers soon after entering the Gaza Strip. The group held drills at a local playground in the Mahmoud Al-Matuk neighborhood, where he said “we exercised intensively for a month, six hours a day. We were provided with explosive charges weighing 15 kilograms and others weighing 17 kilograms.”
The young man also reportedly revealed that his trainers were themselves trained in Syria and Iran, telling interrogators that he planted an anti-tank explosive, weighing 20 kilograms, alongside Ahmad Al-Batsh, a senior Hamas affiliate. He evidently maintained that the two men manufactured dozens of these kinds of explosives, experimenting on them and adding, due to the war, “We were never able to finish manufacturing various kinds of these explosives.”
The newspaper commented that “despite Hamas’ preparations for long months to confront the Israeli invasion, in addition to not knowing accurate timing for the invasion, which came as a surprise for them.
Al-Imasi said that “a few days before the beginning of the war, members of the suicide-bomber group tried on Israeli military uniforms produced in one of the sewing workshops in Gaza and is similar to the uniforms and helmets of the Israeli infantry Givaati Brigade, aiming at misleading the soldiers in a way that would enable Hamas attackers to go among the Israeli soldiers carrying out an attack against them or kidnapping them.”
The young man added that “this was the plan; we were close to capturing some of the Israeli soldiers but something happened at the last minute and confused us.”
Speaking of his actual days of fighting during the invasion, the young man said that “soldiers shelled out monitoring sites and the commander asked us to leave them in order to fight the soldiers.”
“Then we arrived at the house of one of the affiliated and received RPG, explosive charges, rifles, grenades, communication equipment, a bag of dates and some water, as we knew Israel would impose a siege on Gaza and it would be difficult to find food, so we just ate dates to help us stay healthy despite the difficulty of the matter,” he reportedly said.
According to his alleged confessions, Al-Imasi took control of a house belonging to the Hamouda family in the As-Salam neighborhood, along with another fighter, and began attacking the soldiers from inside. He admitted using the houses to attacks the soldiers despite the objection of the owners and said that, “We entered one of the homes under threat, forcing the residents to allow us to shoot from one of the houses.”
The newspaper also reported that Hamas leaders were afraid fighters might defect or abandon their posts, so he “texted hundreds of SMS [messages] to patrols of leaders to update them with the latest on the situation. While a group of attackers were on duty, myself and another fighter received a message from Al-Batsh saying to “be careful to do what is possible to capture a soldier because that is essential in ending the war.”
“Our leaders were afraid we might escape and did not want us to leave the homes; they wanted us to fight until the last drop of blood; in fact, we didn’t have a chance,” he reportedly said.
At one point, the young man said the army surrounded the area with bulldozers and other military machinery. He reportedly told investigators that “when I saw the soldiers I went from the house with an RPG and fired on the bulldozer, hitting one of the armored vehicles.”
“Then, one of the soldiers noticed me and jumped from inside, chasing me toward a small bush, where I waited until returning to the Hamouda home,” the paper quoted him as saying.
He noted that soldiers eventually discovered the home and began bulldozing it. “I saw the bulldozer destroying the house; I was so confused and scared to death when the walls of the house began to collapse, so me and my colleague Husain escaped, leaving our weapons behind.”
Husain succeed in fleeing but soldiers noticed him, and shot him from behind, killing him, he said, “while I sustained wounds in the shoulder from shrapnel. But the soldiers kept shooting at me so I found refuge inside the house of Fathi Abu E’ida in Jabaliya,” he said.
He then reportedly said that he asked the owners of the house, along with 20 others hiding inside, to lie about him in case the soldiers came and discovered their hideout, which they did, arresting the young man and destroying the house.
Last week, the Israeli attorney general charged Al-Imasi and 14 others with murder, possessing weapons, attempted murder and membership in a terrorist organization.
Ma'an News
The young detainee, 20-year-old Mohammad Al-Imasi of Jabalia, was described by the newspaper as among the most important, active and trained among those who were detained during the latest Israeli assault on Gaza.
It published a summary of his confessions to Israeli interrogators regarding his alleged activity with Hamas, particularly with its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and details of Hamas’ plans to thwart a then-potential Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Concerning his alleged membership in the Islamic movement’s armed wing, the newspaper quoted the “baby-faced and shy young man” as saying that he joined the organization at the age of 12, while still a student in primary school.
“One day when I went out of one of the mosques I met affiliates of Hamas who offered to let me join religion classes, which I immediately accepted. Over a year I studied the Qur’an every day, in addition to lessons on fighting the Israelis through suicide bombings,” he reportedly said.
The newspaper alleges he was taught to “kick the Israelis out of Palestine,” and at the end of that year “I was taken to the house of one of the sheikhs who was [with] Hamas, where I swore to be loyal; he told me that ‘from this moment, you have become a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.’”
The young man reportedly went on to say that by the age of 15 he joined Hamas groups operating in the Strip, including the monitoring of the movement of Israeli soldiers, and remaining ready “to confront any invasion into Gaza,” explaining that “rumors were rampant about the possibility that a group of soldiers might go inside Gaza and that it was our duty to be prepared to confront them and to kill them—no matter what.”
“To achieve this we installed monitoring points alongside Gaza’s borders and watched the soldiers’ movements,” he reportedly explained.
But years later he stopped activities with Hamas in order to prepare for his senior exams, but after completing them, went back to Hamas leaders and asked to rejoin the Al-Qassam Brigades.
“Shortly before the war on Gaza in 2008 I joined military training in a soccer field, where we had physical exercises like crawling, running and operating roadside explosives and anti-individual and tank charges,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Eventually, the young man joined a group of would-be suicide bombers that was formed in groups of 20 fighters to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers soon after entering the Gaza Strip. The group held drills at a local playground in the Mahmoud Al-Matuk neighborhood, where he said “we exercised intensively for a month, six hours a day. We were provided with explosive charges weighing 15 kilograms and others weighing 17 kilograms.”
The young man also reportedly revealed that his trainers were themselves trained in Syria and Iran, telling interrogators that he planted an anti-tank explosive, weighing 20 kilograms, alongside Ahmad Al-Batsh, a senior Hamas affiliate. He evidently maintained that the two men manufactured dozens of these kinds of explosives, experimenting on them and adding, due to the war, “We were never able to finish manufacturing various kinds of these explosives.”
The newspaper commented that “despite Hamas’ preparations for long months to confront the Israeli invasion, in addition to not knowing accurate timing for the invasion, which came as a surprise for them.
Al-Imasi said that “a few days before the beginning of the war, members of the suicide-bomber group tried on Israeli military uniforms produced in one of the sewing workshops in Gaza and is similar to the uniforms and helmets of the Israeli infantry Givaati Brigade, aiming at misleading the soldiers in a way that would enable Hamas attackers to go among the Israeli soldiers carrying out an attack against them or kidnapping them.”
The young man added that “this was the plan; we were close to capturing some of the Israeli soldiers but something happened at the last minute and confused us.”
Speaking of his actual days of fighting during the invasion, the young man said that “soldiers shelled out monitoring sites and the commander asked us to leave them in order to fight the soldiers.”
“Then we arrived at the house of one of the affiliated and received RPG, explosive charges, rifles, grenades, communication equipment, a bag of dates and some water, as we knew Israel would impose a siege on Gaza and it would be difficult to find food, so we just ate dates to help us stay healthy despite the difficulty of the matter,” he reportedly said.
According to his alleged confessions, Al-Imasi took control of a house belonging to the Hamouda family in the As-Salam neighborhood, along with another fighter, and began attacking the soldiers from inside. He admitted using the houses to attacks the soldiers despite the objection of the owners and said that, “We entered one of the homes under threat, forcing the residents to allow us to shoot from one of the houses.”
The newspaper also reported that Hamas leaders were afraid fighters might defect or abandon their posts, so he “texted hundreds of SMS [messages] to patrols of leaders to update them with the latest on the situation. While a group of attackers were on duty, myself and another fighter received a message from Al-Batsh saying to “be careful to do what is possible to capture a soldier because that is essential in ending the war.”
“Our leaders were afraid we might escape and did not want us to leave the homes; they wanted us to fight until the last drop of blood; in fact, we didn’t have a chance,” he reportedly said.
At one point, the young man said the army surrounded the area with bulldozers and other military machinery. He reportedly told investigators that “when I saw the soldiers I went from the house with an RPG and fired on the bulldozer, hitting one of the armored vehicles.”
“Then, one of the soldiers noticed me and jumped from inside, chasing me toward a small bush, where I waited until returning to the Hamouda home,” the paper quoted him as saying.
He noted that soldiers eventually discovered the home and began bulldozing it. “I saw the bulldozer destroying the house; I was so confused and scared to death when the walls of the house began to collapse, so me and my colleague Husain escaped, leaving our weapons behind.”
Husain succeed in fleeing but soldiers noticed him, and shot him from behind, killing him, he said, “while I sustained wounds in the shoulder from shrapnel. But the soldiers kept shooting at me so I found refuge inside the house of Fathi Abu E’ida in Jabaliya,” he said.
He then reportedly said that he asked the owners of the house, along with 20 others hiding inside, to lie about him in case the soldiers came and discovered their hideout, which they did, arresting the young man and destroying the house.
Last week, the Israeli attorney general charged Al-Imasi and 14 others with murder, possessing weapons, attempted murder and membership in a terrorist organization.
Ma'an News
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