Salah Shehade
| Salah Shehade | |
|---|---|
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| Native name | صلاح شحادة |
| Born | 24 February 1953 Beit Hanoun, Gaza |
| Died | 22 July 2002 (aged 49) Gaza City, Gaza |
| Organization | Hamas |
Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade صلاح شحادة (or Shehadeh; 24 February 1953 – 22 July 2002) was a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. He led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas, until his targeted killing by Israel.
Born in Gaza and a member of Hamas since the formation of the group in 1987, he quickly became one of its most influential leaders and was arrested a few times by Israel or the Palestinian Authority. After Yahya Ayash's death, in 1996, Shehade became a top leader in the group, along with Mohammed Deif and Adnan al-Ghoul.
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 released 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. He 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 a 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 Shahade was hiding using a one-ton bomb dropped by a F-16 plane in a neighborhood of Gaza City. Fifteen people were killed, including Shehade, his wife and daughter, and seven members of the Matar family who lived in the next house. Between 50 and 150 were injured as a result of the attack. Both Shehade's and Matar's houses were destroyed by the bomb, as were eight others in the vicinity; nine houses were partially destroyed, and 20 other houses moderately damaged. 27 reserve pilots, among them Iftach Spector, signed a pilots' letter refusing to fly assassination sorties over Gaza and the West Bank in protest of the operation.
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