Photo: REUTERS / Mohammed SalemIn the early hours of this Tuesday, Israel delivered a coup in the region when it killed Baha Abu al-Ata in his bed, thus unleashing an incessant wave of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.But who was Abu al-Ata and why was it so important for Israel to neutralize him?In a press conference this Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu defined al-Ata as a “time bomb” and highlighted that “in the last year he was the main instigator of terrorism from the Gaza Strip. “He initiated, planned and executed many attacks and fired hundreds of rockets towards communities surrounding Gaza.”Abu al-Ata was one of the commanders of the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.At 42 years old, he was considered the most radical of the terrorist movement that in recent years has been trying to challenge the increasingly less popular Hamas government in Gaza, with more violent and extremist actions.The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a terrorist movement of Sunni origin although financed by the Iranian regime, and al-Ata was considered Tehran’s link with Gaza.At the top of Israel’s security agencies they have considered in recent months that Islamic Jihad represents a more significant danger to Israel than Hamas, since it acts independently, without control from the political or military arm of Hamas, and al-Ata was the spearhead of the terrorist movement.Even as Israel and Hamas indirectly negotiated a continued ceasefire in the Gaza area, al-Ata continued to give instructions to Islamic Jihad troops to attack Israel.Israeli army commander Aviv Kochavi put it clearly in a press conference: “(al-Ata) was responsible for most of the attacks emanating from Gaza over the last year, responsible for dozens of incidents with snipers, responsible for firing rockets into Israel and a long list of attacks. He was the man who was shaking security and stability in southern Israel and especially in the communities near Gaza. “He was the one who acted in every possible way to avoid a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.”In the early hours of the morning, with a surgical strike on their hiding place, Israel neutralized “the ticking bomb,” although it sparked a significant violent reaction from the terrorist movement.Post navigation
