Adnan Al-Ghoul (c. 1962 - October 21, 2004) was the assistant of
Mohammed DeifMohammed Deif Born in 1960, is a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He gained that position after Israel killed Salah Shehade in July, 2002. Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians...
, the leader of the
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesThe Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Palestinian socio-political organisation Hamas...
, the armed wing of
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
. He was killed along with
Imad AbbasImad Abbas was a senior member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, until his assassination by the Israeli Defense Forces on October 21 2004, in Gaza City....
in an air strike while riding in his car in
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
on October 21, 2004. By Hamas members he is seen as a martyr.
Identified by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as Hamas' top bombmaker, he joined the organisation soon after its creation in 1988.
Adnan Al-Ghoul (c. 1962 - October 21, 2004) was the assistant of
Mohammed DeifMohammed Deif Born in 1960, is a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He gained that position after Israel killed Salah Shehade in July, 2002. Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians...
, the leader of the
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam BrigadesThe Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Palestinian socio-political organisation Hamas...
, the armed wing of
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
. He was killed along with
Imad AbbasImad Abbas was a senior member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, until his assassination by the Israeli Defense Forces on October 21 2004, in Gaza City....
in an air strike while riding in his car in
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
on October 21, 2004. By Hamas members he is seen as a martyr.
Identified by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as Hamas' top bombmaker, he joined the organisation soon after its creation in 1988. He then served as an assistant to Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades's top engineer,
Yahya AyyashYahya Abd-al-Latif Ayyash was the chief bombmaker of Hamas and the leader of the Samaria battalion of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
. Al-Ghoul took over Ayyash's role in 1996 after his mentor's assassination. Early in the
Al-Aqsa intifadaThe Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
, Al-Ghoul developed the
Qassam rocketThe Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket filled with explosives, developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas...
. Al-Ghoul also masterminded the development of weapons made from raw material and equipment smuggled into the Gaza Strip using tunnels in
RafahRafah is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip, but also extends into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,000 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. It serves as the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
, on the border with
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
. Among those weapons, anti-tank rockets such as the
Al-BanaThe al-Bana rocket launcher is a weapon developed by Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades under the direction of Adnan al-Ghoul and Mohammed Deif...
, the
BatarThe Batar rocket launcher is a weapon developed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas during the Al-Aqsa intifada...
and later the
YasinThe Yasin anti-tank rocket launcher is a weapon developed by Hamas' Ezzedeen-al-qassam brigades named after the group's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yasin, who was assassinated by the Israeli Defense Forces on March 22, 2004...
were often used by Hamas in its attacks against settlements or Israeli soldiers in Gaza, as well as for defense purposes during IDF's incursions.
Al-Ghoul lived in hiding and never spoke to the media. Pictures of the 46 year-old father of four, were released by Hamas only after his death. On September 26, 2003 he reportedly attended a meeting with
Mohammed DeifMohammed Deif Born in 1960, is a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He gained that position after Israel killed Salah Shehade in July, 2002. Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians...
,
Ismail HaniyaIsmail Haniyeh ; is a senior political leader of Hamas and one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority, the matter being under political and legal dispute. He became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won...
, one of Hamas' political leaders, and the organisation's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yasin, when Israeli forces bombed the house where they gathered. Al-Ghoul's eldest son Bilal was killed in a 2001 air strike in Gaza, and his second son Mohammed was killed the following year along with a cousin during a botched raid in the family home in
MaghaziMaghazi is located in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in the central Gaza Strip. It is a Palestinian refugee camp that was established in 1949. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the Refugee Camp had a population of 24,284 in mid-year 2006...
, south of Gaza City.
Although the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, for security reason, withheld at the time the identities of the engineers that were involved with Al-Ghoul in overseeing the production of weapons for the group, it was disclosed in March 2006 that Abdel Mo'ti Abu Daf was, along with imad Abbas, Al-Ghoul's top assistant. Daf died on February 26, 2006, after a grenade accidentally detonated during a training.
See also
- Hamas
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
- Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Palestinian socio-political organisation Hamas...
- Yasin
The Yasin anti-tank rocket launcher is a weapon developed by Hamas' Ezzedeen-al-qassam brigades named after the group's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yasin, who was assassinated by the Israeli Defense Forces on March 22, 2004...
RPG
- Qassam rocket
The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket filled with explosives, developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas...
- Mohammed Deif
Mohammed Deif Born in 1960, is a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He gained that position after Israel killed Salah Shehade in July, 2002. Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians...