Hamas In The Dark Over Mysterious Assassination

Mysterious assassination- the day after: Days have passed since the mysterious assignation of Mazan Pukha an elite Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, and the terror group is still totally in the dark over the identity of the assassins- who left no trace behind.

Hamas officials have rushed to point a blaming finger towards Israel, where Pukha has served a prison sentence in the past, for being involved in a deadly suicide bombing near Miron which left 9 people dead and another 52 injured. Pukha was released from Israeli prison in 2011 during the Shalit prisoner exchange.

In an attempt to apprehend the assassins or people that assisted them, Hamas has decided to close off all its border crossings with Israel.

A preliminary report reveals that the assassination took place in south western Gaza in Tel- el Hawa, a neighborhood not far from where the terrorist lived. The report also reveals that Pukah was fired upon from close range, a few rounds to the head, and the shooting was carried out with the use of silencers.

Hamas foreign spokesman Ayad el-Bozam, said that the border crossings will remain closed until further notice, so that Hamas security forces can complete their investigation into the incident.

Immediately after the assignation took place the assassin or assassins, disappeared without leaving the slightest trace. Many questions still remain to be answered.
Did they escape through the sea? Is Israel behind it, or a local feud?

If it was in fact the job of Israel, it is believed that the assassins managed to leave the strip right away, and did not linger behind patiently for Hamas to announce the closure of Gaza’s borders.

Following the attack, Hamas spokesman Chas Badran tweeted, “no one has an interest in the assassination of Mazan Pukha besides for Israel. These are her cowardly methods”.

Speaking to ‘Israel army radio’, Sami Abad, an Arab political analyst, told listeners that Hamas would want to take revenge in Israel whom it sees responsible for the death: “It was a silent assassination and the retaliation will also be silent. All the fingers are pointed towards the Shabak and Mosad, and there will be a retaliation, for there has to be revenge”.

Former Shabak agent Yaron Bloom, commented on the assassination on Israel radio ‘103FM’ saying, “this man was not a righteous man. Israel will not cry over him, nor will Egypt, and not even Hamas. Mazan Pukah came from the Shomron and was exiled to Gaza during the Shalit exchange, since then he has been very active in planning terror attack against Israel”.

Bloom claims that Hamas does not want an escalation, because “Hamas is still not ready for another round, it still did not recuperate from the last round it had. It prefers to keep the quiet and will therefore not start another confrontation. However, it will attempt to perpetrate small scale terror attacks”.

Although it is believed that Hamas does not want to escalate the situation in the south, since it is pointing a blaming finger at Israel, the IDF and GSS is on high alert for any possible retaliation and is monitoring the situation in the south very closely.

Translated by Eli B.

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