Salah Shahade
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Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shahade (1953–2002) (Arabic: صلاح مصطفى محمد شحادة) was the leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, until his assassination by Israel on July 22, 2002.
A member of Hamas since the formation of the group in 1987, he quickly became one of its influent leaders and was arrested a few time by Israel or the Palestinian Authority. After Yahya Ayash's death, in 1996, Shahade became the official leader of the group, a responsibility he shared with Mohammed Deif and Adnan al-Ghoul.
During the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel accused him of masterminding several attacks against both Israeli soldiers and civilians in the Gaza strip and in Israel proper. It was also reported that Shahade was involved in the production of Qassam rockets, fired against Israeli civilian targets, and other homemade weapons, as well as in the smuggling of military equipment in the Gaza strip.
On July 22, 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted the building in which Shahade was hiding using a 2,205-pound bomb dropped by a F-16 plane that destroyed many houses in a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City. As a result, 15 people were killed, including Shahade, his wife and 9 children. In addition to the building which was directly targeted, nine other adjacent buildings were completely destroyed and 12 others were severely damaged. 150 people were hospitalized with injuries from the attack.
The attack received widespread condemnation from other Middle Eastern Nations and Western Europe, although it was praised by Ariel Sharon as "one of our greatest successes."
In December 2005, a class-action lawsuit was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, naming former Shin Beth director Avraham Dichter, the military chief in charge of the operation, as the sole defendant. Referring in particular to the Shehada assassination, the lawsuit alleges that Dichter "developed, implemented and escalated the practice of targeted killings." Citing the assassination of more than 300 Palestinian leaders and the deaths and wounding of hundreds of innocent bystanders, the suit claims that assassination is illegal under international law. [1]
