GAZA, 27 August 2003 — Prominent Hamas leaders have turned off mobile phones and gone underground to avoid instant death from the air after Israeli missiles killed seven of them in an escalating campaign to crush the militant group.
In the latest attacks, missile-firing Israeli helicopters killed Hamas’s deputy political chief Ismail Abu Shanab in his car in Gaza City on Thursday, and military operations chief Ahmed Shtewe on a nearby beach on Sunday.
“Dear mujahed (Islamic fighters), you are being watched closely around the clock. You are marked for liquidation,” said a statement to members circulated by the powerful faction leading a 35-month-old uprising for Palestinian independence. “Your enemy is a coward with the tools of monitoring and killing. Therefore you are ordered to take strict measures that leave no room for chance,” it said. Israel’s army chief said top militants faced “liquidation” after they called off a ceasefire in the wake of Abu Shanab’s killing — which followed a Jerusalem bombing claimed by Hamas as revenge for army raids that went on despite the truce.
Hamas’s new security tactics aim to stymie helicopter gunships that appear without warning over Gaza, where top Islamist militants once circulated at will, cheered by crowds, and cultivated a fiery image in local and foreign media.
The Hamas decree told members to cut their use of mobile phones to a minimum to avoid giving away the location and times of meetings to Israeli authorities tracking their calls.
The decree also bans travel except for “urgent missions”. Only one militant should be in a car at a time. Trips on foot should be limited to narrow streets invisible from the air.
One militant leader said that a cellphone call had almost cost him his life. “Our mobile phones can effectively play the role of a good collaborator (for Israel),” he said.
Senior Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi, who was slightly injured and narrowly escaped death when missiles hit his car in June, said the decree was addressed to all militants, not just those with Hamas.
Hamas operatives were also advised to don disguises when moving about in public. “You do not know who is following you. It could be the store owner, or your neighbor, or someone in a car,” said the directive.
