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Hamas Fumes: Israel ‘Opened the Gates of Hell’ After Killing Top Chief During Anti-Militant Airstrikes

Nov. 14, 2012 11:09am Billy Hallowell

TheBlaze’s Sharona Schwartz contributed to this report.

Israel Assassinates Top Hamas Commander in Airstrike | Ahmed Jabari

Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire from the car of Ahmaed Jaabari, head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. The top Hamas commander Ahmed al-Jaabari was killed in an Israeli air strike , medics and a Hamas source told. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli airstrikes have hit a series of targets across Gaza City, shortly after the assassination of the top Hamas commander. According to the Israeli military, the targeted killing of Ahmed Jabari is part of a reboot of the nation’s policy of assassinating Palestinian militant leaders.

Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch confirmed that the attack is the “start of a broader operation.” The event is significant, as Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza took place four years ago. For quite some time, the militant leader has been on Israel’s most-wanted list, as he was blamed for numerous past attacks.

Fifty-two-year-old Jaabari previously spent 13 years in Israeli jail for terrorist activity. As head of Hamas’ military wing, all regional Hamas commanders in Gaza answered to him. He was a key player involved in the negotiations over the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held in Gaza for five years and appeared next to Shalit on the day he was released and transferred to Egyptian, and later Israeli hands.

Responding to the airstrikes, Hamas put out a statement claiming that the assassination ”has opened the gates of hell” (watch video of the killing).

People look at a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. The Israeli military said its assassination of the Hamas military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Witnesses said Jabari was traveling in a vehicle in Gaza City when the car exploded. Crowds of people and security personnel rushed to the scene of the strike, trying to put out the fire that had engulfed the car and left it a charred shell.

Hamas police cordoned off the area around a hospital where at least one body from the strike was taken. It was draped in a white sheet, with a burned leg poking out. Hamas said another man was killed in the airstrike. Schools in southern Israel and Gaza will remain closed on Thursday, as violence continues.

Gaza sources tell Arab Affairs Analyst Ehud Yaari reports that Jaabari’s colleagues had been warning him in recent days to lay low due to the expectation Israel was planning to renew its policy of “targeted killings.”

Israel Channel 2 Correspondent Udi Segal said his sources told him that earlier in the day, Likud Minister Benny Begin was sent on an interview with Israel Radio to report that this week’s violent exchange between Gaza and Israel had ended. This, the sources said, was an intentional ploy to lull Hamas to drop its guard, which apparently worked.

Hamas security officials say two Hamas training facilities were among the targets in the Wednesday afternoon bombings. Plumes of smoke are rising in the air, and people are running in panic through the streets as militants angrily fire their weapons in the air.

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

The Israeli mission is said to be a response that was launched after days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza. Interior Minister Eli Yishai told Israel Channel 2 that more than 100 rockets had been launched into Israel this week and that the nation had lost its ability to prevent them from entering. This operations is clearly a reaction to that fact — one that has been given no definitive timeframe, although one Israel Radio correspondent claims it could last between a few days and one week.

Israel Assassinates Top Hamas Commander in Airstrike | Ahmed Jabari

On Wednesday afternoon, IDF’s official spokespeople took to Twitter, where a dire warning was issued to Hamas: “We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead.”

As for the Jabari killing, military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity under army regulations, said he was identified by “precise intelligence” gathered over several months.

A file picture dated on October 18, 2011 shows Ahmed Jaabari at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Advocates say targeted killings are an effective deterrent without the complications associated with a ground operation, chiefly civilian and Israeli troop casualties. Proponents argue they also prevent future attacks by removing their masterminds.

Critics say they invite retaliation by militants and encourage them to try to assassinate Israeli leaders. They complain that the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.

During a wave of suicide bombings against Israel a decade ago, the country employed the tactic to eliminate the upper echelon of Hamas leadership.

Israeli aircraft have previously assassinated the previous commander of Hamas’ military wing, Salah Shehadeh, the movement’s spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, and dozens of other senior Hamas military commanders.

The practice set off a continuous wave of criticism from rights groups and foreign governments, particularly the strike that killed Shehadeh — a one-ton bomb that killed 14 other people, most of them children.

Israel has said that it is willing, if needed, to use ground troops to stop violence coming from Gaza. Bloomberg has more:

Israel carried out a series of air strikes in the Gaza Strip today, killing the leader of Hamas’s militant wing, and said it was ready to use ground troops if needed to end attacks on its citizens.

The Israeli army said it called up reserves in advance of any possible infantry assault. It said it targeted Ahmed al- Jabari in a “surgical strike” and identified him as a “senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas command and was directly responsible for executing terror attacks,” according to an e-mailed statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who directed Israel’s 2008 ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, yesterday said he was considering new measures to stop increased missile attacks from the Hamas-ruled territory. The violence sent oil prices higher.

Israel Channel 2 has also reported that incoming rockets were potentially fired toward the area of Beer Sheba (sirens were heard there as well). The IDF Twitter account reports, “Initial reports indicate that the Iron Dome has intercepted a number of rockets above a major Israeli city.”

This story has been updated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments (156)

SPIN_MD
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 3:27pm
I still stand by my idea that the Psalm 83 war will be before the end of the year. Read your Bible folks. Israel wins said war. Israel wins the war so completely and with such devastation that when the Ezekiel 38 war comes around God drags the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal into war with hooks in his jaw. Clearly said entity doesn’t want to go into this war because he knows the outcome.

Christians look up for your redemption is close.

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thegreatcarnac
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 3:19pm
WHo does the propaganda for Hamas? How many times has hamas used….’now you’ve opened the gates of Heeeeellllll’.'Gates of hell’ this and ‘gates of hell’ that. According to Hamas….the gates of hell open up constantly. They are like the automatic doors at the supermarket. I guess when one of them dies the gates of hell open to let him in. Hamas must know exactly when the gates of hell open. Is there a little bell that rings when they open and only Hamas can hear it? Hamas is a bunch of melodramatic ‘Wiley Coyote’ types trying to act macho.

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AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 3:09pm
2012 tweet Heads Up ^ we are hunting you. Hide in cave. Ps add to friends on FB. Skype you for supper. Tweets.

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Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:44pm
Bravo– An eye for an eye,…. Let us see arm for arm and head for head please. Can we have another?

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AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:36pm
Send me $ or a ticket. No lie, Id be there. Survived death 3 times, Im More than ready. Worlds jacked to all hell. Let me know if you get the cash. I see it getting dryer than a popcorn fart though so be quick on that.

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aldol
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:30pm
israel ought to use wholesale napalm diplomacy in gaza

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nana1212
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:25pm
Hamas, YOU alone opened the gates of hell, BUT….Israel will close them for good! GREAT work, Israel. Keep up the good work!

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DeutschTish
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:16pm
This is a good example of the saying ” PAYBACK IS A BIOTCH” aint it hamas ? haha

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Apple Bite
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:14pm
As his name would imply, Jerk clearly talks from the wrong side of his body, about things he don’t understand….

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chips1
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:12pm
This was just a defensive war move. An assasination is what Obama did in Bengazi. Big difference.

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Centralsville
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:11pm
The end is setting up. The gates of hell are indeed opening up. Our nation, like all the nations of the world, will turn against God. We just elected the evil one to do the job. All those members of that false violent Satan led religion will be joining the evil one in the last days. I always wondered how America would turn it’s back on Israel in the last days. Now I know. The evil one and all his followers are in charge. Yes the gates of hell are opened wide.

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drphil69
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 1:52pm
Yes, they opened the gates of hell to admit one (1) terrorist. Sorry, no 72 virgins for you!!

Let’s hope they add a few more thousand to hell over the next few days…

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- DeutschTish
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:22pm
  I’m with you Doc, the gates of hell are wide open, sorry no virgins.. only the sociopaths who went before you !!
  
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PurrrpleMtnMajesty
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 1:50pm
#Individualism
You have every right to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is.
All I can say is that
if you choose to believe & live as if there is no God,
you had better be absolutely SURE you are correct.
And if you are so certain that God does not exist, why only take on
the Islamic or Hindu or Buddist faith? Why JUST the Christian Faith?
I don’t see non-believers challenging those claims? Why? No fun in it
because some retaliate or because the #s of Christians are significant
enough in this country that we truly ARE a Christian nation? Undeniably so.

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- smv803
  Posted on November 15, 2012 at 11:32am
  Excellent. Non-believers will find out soon enough.
  
  Report this comment
chips1
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 1:33pm
If we could sell them a fleet of Chevy Volts, that should finish them off.

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- AbrahamsSheepdog
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:47pm
  You remember radio control cars. Now we have big? ones. And still those cheap azs batteries in them. They still suck. 30 yrs ago solar cars…my dad thought they were “the future” sure dad. Only 50 million dollars. Volt should be called alkaline
  
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elvascon
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 1:03pm
Bibi has full support of US military. IAF will complete mission fairly quickly. God bless the people of Israel.

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crystalsky
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:55pm
zechariah12:2,9 ‘And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples;all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces’ though all the people of the earth be gathered against it…And it shall come to pass, in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” Remember God is not a liar and the baby Jesus is not a baby anymore.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. As a sinner you are separated from God. Agreeing with God that you are a sinner allows him to work in your life. Repentance (turning from your sin) through prayer invite Jesus to come into your heart for salvation and forgiveness. Put your faith and trust in him to direct your future. The Holy Bible has a lot of telling the future in it. and it so far has come true and it will come true. How do you know God is real look at all the truth of prophecy that has already came true so far. And when the rapture really does happen we do not know a date or time.The people left will make up some excuse where they have gone, but the bible already has told you were we are.

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- Beachmastermax
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 2:33pm
  God goes where he pleases. Inviting is a work. Be careful and be clear.
  
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Whiteeagle
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:44pm
WE KNOW .. that there are 144,000 NOT ‘Defiled’ by Women (ensnared by men’s intellectual religions) … These ARE PURE and GOD WILL Stand For Them ……. Even So, COME LORD Jesus !!

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123456beatriz
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:43pm
Gooooooollllll.

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Matt
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:26pm
By “opened the gates of hell” they mean, “You have dealt a seriously crippling blow to us. Because we are now less operationally effective, and scared shitless, we are going to issue toothless threats to keep you from realizing exactly how weak we really are now.”

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sbenard
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:24pm
Yeah! Israel just “opened the gates to hell” — to receive an incoming transfer — one named Jabari!

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Zenger
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:21pm
Obama has dropped everything (pants included) to craft an obsequious apology to Hamas.

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sbenard
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:18pm
Israel just hit the button that dropped the floor beneath Jabari and sent him down the express chute to Hades. There ain’t no pit deep enough for him! And now, he’s on his way! Say “hello” to the Devil for us, Jabari!

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WillG
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:18pm
Hamas has brought this on themselves. While they target civilians Israel targets the Leaders of their Militant groups. Collateral damage is to be expected. What is more the very same groups that complain about the unintended loss of the “Poor Innocent Children” would gladly fit those same children with vests and send them into crowds to do their “Gods” will.

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sbenard
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:14pm
Wow! There wasn’t much left of that car! Gazooks! Eagle-eye aim!

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MeMadMax
Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:11pm
For Sale: One used Infiniti front end.
Don’t ask about the rest of the car…

=D

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- sbenard
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:14pm
  LOL! Thanks!
  
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- sbenard
  Posted on November 14, 2012 at 12:26pm
  Figures that the demon would be driving a luxury car!
  
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