Hamas officially accuses Israel of assassinating Fuqaha

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh at a press conference in West Bank on 11 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh at a press conference on 11 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh at a press conference in Gaza on 11 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh at a press conference in West Bank on 11 May, 2017 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh announced today that Israel is responsible for the assassination of its senior member Mazen Fuqaha in Gaza.

In a press conference, Haniyeh said: “To all of the free people in the entire world, we reveal details that we have arrested the direct assassin who carried out the crime.”

The assassin, who committed the crime, carried out orders of the Zionist security services. He is in the hands of the [Palestinian] security services in Gaza. He admitted his crime and gave clear details about it.

Prior to the press conference, the a re-enactment of the crime was carried out in front of Fuqaha’s house in Tel Al-Islam neighbourhood in the west of Gaza city.

Haniyeh said that Fuqaha’s assassination was a strategic attack on Hamas, but “recognising and arresting the killer is a strategic and political victory for the movement in its battle with the Israeli occupation.”

He also said that this is a “victory” for the security services on the ground, adding that the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails would achieve another “victory” in their battle.

Haniyeh commended the Palestinian security services for their role in identifying the assassin, adding that another press conference would be held to reveal the identity of the killer within days.

On 24 March 2017, Fuqaha, a former Palestinian prisoner who was released as part of the Shalit prisoner swap deal in 2011, was assassinated by unknown people in front of his house in central Gaza.

Read: Reports: Suspected killer of Mazen Fuqaha arrested

Israel accused Fuqaha of heading the Al-Qassam Brigades in the occupied West Bank and funding their activities.