Israeli air strike kills Hamas military chief Jabari

BBC News online - 14 November 2012

The BBC's Wyre Davies: "The violence in and around the Gaza Strip has been escalated"

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The head of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari, has been killed during a series of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.

He and another senior Hamas official died when the car they were travelling in was hit in Gaza City.
It was part of a wider Israeli operation against militant groups in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
It follows a wave of rocket attacks against Israel from the territory.

Outside the hospital where Mr Jabari's body was taken, thousands of angry Gaza residents chanted "retaliation" and "We want you to hit Tel Aviv tonight", according to the Associated Press news agency. A number of injured civilians, including a badly burned young child, were also taken to hospital in the city.

Militants in Gaza have fired more than 110 rockets towards southern Israel since Saturday, when four soldiers were wounded in an anti-tank missile attack on an Israeli army jeep.

Before Wednesday's operation, six Palestinians had been killed in the ensuing Israeli military strikes on the Gaza Strip in response.

Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich said Mr Jabari had "a lot of blood on his hands".

She told BBC News that "close to 20" sites in Gaza had been targeted in a "limited" operation, with the strikes aiming to destroy rocket-firing capabilities.

At the scene

Jon Donnison BBC News, Gaza City

Across Gaza there's anger. There's the sound of gunfire. The news is being broadcast from mosques. There are chaotic scenes at the city's al-Shifa hospital.
Ahmed Jabari was one of Hamas's most senior figures. He was 46 years old and the head of the movement's military wing, the al- Qassam brigades.
He was hit by an air strike as he travelled in a car through the centre of Gaza City. At least one other senior Hamas figure is thought to have died.
Israel will say Hamas had it coming. Palestinians will see it a major provocation. The fears here are it could provoke another war.

"The operation against Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other organisations has two goals: to protect Israeli civilians and target the terror capability of these organisations," she added.

On its Twitter feed, the Israeli military said the operation could be escalated further. "All options are on the table. If necessary, the IDF is ready to initiate a ground operation in Gaza," it said.
Mr Jabari, who was 46, is the most senior Hamas official to be killed in the Gaza Strip since the major Israeli offensive four years ago.

Israel's Shin Bet security service said he had been responsible for "all terrorist activities against Israel from Gaza" in the last decade.

"Jabari was responsible for financing and directing military operations and attacks against Israel. His elimination today is a message to Hamas officials in Gaza that if they continue promoting terrorism against Israel, they will be hurt," it said.

Civilians injured in the air strikes were rushed to Gaza's hospitals

  

Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri said: "Israel will regret the moment they even thought of doing this."

Hamas: Leaders assassinated by Israel

• Jan 1996, Gaza: Hamas chief bomb maker Yahya Ayyash killed by mobile phone packed with explosives
• July 2002, Gaza: Salah Shehadeh, leader of Hamas military wing, killed by bomb dropped on his house
• Mar 2004, Gaza: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, killed by missile strike
• Apr 2004, Gaza: Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, co-founder and leader of Hamas, killed in missile strike
• Jan 2009, Gaza: Said Siyam, senior Hamas commander, killed in air strike
• Jan 2010, Dubai: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, senior Hamas military commander, suffocated in five-star hotel in Dubai

Saeb Erekat of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the separate West Bank territory, condemned the assassination "in the strongest terms".

"We hold Israel fully responsible for the consequences of this new act of aggression," he added.
Israel has killed several senior Hamas figures in similar operations, including the movement's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in 2004.

The BBC's Jon Donnison in Gaza City says the sound of gunfire echoed through the streets after mosques broadcast the news of Mr Jabari's death.

There are fears the attack could lead to a major escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel, he adds.