Ha'aretz - Hamas chief killed in Gaza operation

In the wake of the weekend deaths of four-man Israeli tank crew in Gaza, the Israel Deifense Forces has dropped its self-imposed restraints ahead of an American assault on Iraq, and is moving against Hamas in Gaza, including the use of pinpoint prevention, i.e., assassination, army sources said yesterday.


Riyad Abu Zid, the military commander of the Hamas, was killed yesterday southwest of Bureij refugee camp when he tried to resist arrest by an elite army unit that sprang a surprise checkpoint to make the arrest. Also yesterday, two Palestinian gunmen were killed and four other wounded trying to block a home demolition, that of the man the army says is responsible for Saturday's deadly attack on the tank.


On Sunday, six Hamas operatives were killed while handling a mysterious unmanned plane they planned to use to deliver a bomb inside Israel.


The IDF Spokesman said that in the death yesterday of Abu Zid, he had opened fire on the soldiers who tried to stop his car outside the camp, and they returned fire. A helicopter was brought in to medivac him to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, but he was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Army sources emphasized the aim was to arrest - not kill - him, in the operation, so he could be interrogated about the Hamas command structure in Gaza. The army said Abu Zid had planned to set in motion a series of suicide bombings and car bombings inside the Green Line.[...]