Assassination of Hamas commander Ali Qadhi
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The Shin Bet and IDF announced that Ali Qadhi, who led one of last week's brutal terrorist attacks against communities in southern Israel, was killed in a drone strike Saturday afternoon.
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"Under the intelligence direction of the Shin Bet and the Military Intelligence Directorate, an IDF aircraft assassinated Ali Qadhi, head of the terrorist organization Hamas' Nukhba commando unit, who led a terrorist assault in the communities surrounding Gaza last weekend," a statement read.
Qadhi was sentenced to life in Israeli prison in 2005 for the kidnapping and murder of Sasson Nouriel in 2005. He was subsequently released and deported to the Gaza Strip in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap deal for the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Nouriel, 50, worked as a foreman at a sweets factory in Mishor Adumim at the time of his murder. Abdullah Arar, with whom he had been working for ten years, hired Qadhi, and the kidnapping occurred only a few days later, on September 21, 2005. Qadhi lured Nouriel to accompany him to see a chocolate-making machine, and Nouriel agreed only on the condition that Abdullah accompany him.
In 2011, Nouriel's son, who had petitioned against the Shalit deal, stated that "Qadhi assaulted him with the butt of the gun. They yanked him out of the driver's seat, tied his hands, covered his eyes, gagged him with a cloth and placed him in the back seat. In Ramallah, he was taken to a pre-planned hiding place, where he was joined by Abdullah's brother, Said Arar, and Said Shallada, the man who eventually stabbed my father tens of times."
Hamas later posted a video of Nouriel bound and blindfolded, mumbling a text dictated to him by his kidnappers. On his lap was his driver's license. His abduction was referred to by Hamas as the "first rain" in a series of premeditated kidnappings of IDF troops and civilians in response to the IDF's Operation Summer Rains in Gaza at the time. For many, the release of the recording mirrored another terrorist organization, al-Qaeda, which engaged in similar tactics.
According to the indictment brought against Qadhi in 2005, following several failed kidnapping attempts, he chose to kidnap an Israeli from the industrial park of Mishor Adumim. He enlisted the assistance of Said Shallada, Said Arar and Abdullah Arar, and conspired together to kidnap Nouriel.
According to the indictment, in September 2005, Qadhi and Abdullah forced Nouriel to accompany them to Aram, north of Jerusalem. During the journey, Nouriel was kidnapped at gunpoint and transported to a hideout apartment, where he was filmed by his captors reciting a message confirming his kidnapping by Hamas and requesting the release of multiple Palestinian convicts.
Fearing being identified and apprehended by Israeli forces, the kidnappers swiftly transported Nouriel to the Beitunia landfill, where Said Shallada fatally stabbed him and buried his body nearby. According to the Shin Bet, Nouriel had been murdered before his family could file a police report.
The terrorist cell informed their operator in Gaza, Muhammad Theria, that they had successfully kidnapped a Jew, providing him with photographic evidence. Only when the Shin Bet located the cell and discovered the body did Hamas claim responsibility for the attack.
According to a 2005 Shin Bet report, Qadhi's terrorist cell planned additional attacks, which were foiled after the group was revealed following Nouriel's death. They intended to kidnap Israeli civilians on the Ramallah-Jerusalem road; carry out suicide bombings near Aram in the area of Jerusalem, shooting attacks targeting Israeli civilians in the Ramallah area and abduction of an Israeli civilian working at a gas station in Neve Ya'akov, Israelis from Halamish swimming pools and Israelis from the Mishor Adumim industrial park.
However, Qadhi was released as part of the Shalit deal along with others responsible for the kidnapping, including the group's leader, Yasser Salah. Qadhi was deported to the Gaza Strip, where he continued to engage in terrorism. In February 2013, a Hamas unit led by Qadhi was spotted looking for hideouts in order to smuggle firearms to be used in future attacks.