Israeli officials have said they believe Dirar Abu Sisi worked for Hamas, but the indictment provided the first details of the role the 42-year-old engineer is accused of playing before he disappeared from a sleeper train in Ukraine in February. He resurfaced days later in an Israeli prison, and his family claims he was captured by the Mossad spy agency.
The family says Abu Sisi has no connections to Hamas and that he was in Ukraine, his wife’s homeland, to apply for residency. The indictment said he had received training on rocket technology at a military engineering academy in Ukraine.
Over the years, Hamas has vastly improved its arsenal of Qassam rockets, transforming them from primitive weapons with extremely limited ranges into more powerful projectiles that can strike deep inside Israel.
“Abu Sisi’s ongoing and significant activities in Hamas’ service over the past decade, with an emphasis on strengthening and improving the capabilities of Qassam rockets, allowed Hamas to create a growing threat to the Israeli home front, resulting in the death and wounding of many Israeli civilians,” a summary of the indictment released by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said.
During a brief courtroom appearance, Abu Sisi, a senior official at Gaza’s sole power plant, accused Israel of seizing him to gain information about Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas, then falsified charges when it became clear he had no information.
“I don’t have any connection with Schalit and the investigation proved that,” he said. “When they found out I don’t have any connection to Schalit they fabricated these charges.” After the hearing, Abu Sisi’s lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan, said he denied all charges, calling the indictment “inflated, exaggerated and unconnected to reality.” She also accused Israel of torturing her client and forcing him to sign Hebrew documents he did not understand.
“He was under intense pressure,” she said, refusing to elaborate.
Israel has said little about Abu Sisi, including how he made his way from Ukraine to an Israeli prison, because of the gag order. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the engineer was a Hamas member and possessed “important information.” As a senior official at the Gaza plan, Abu Sisi would need good relations with the territory’s Iranian-backed Hamas rulers. His family says that does not make him a militant.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied the engineer is a member.
“He is a Palestinian citizen kidnapped in a criminal gang-style operation while he was visiting his family in Ukraine, and all the Israeli accusations are only to justify his abduction,” he said.
