Hamas has arrested officers in the Palestinian Authority's armed forces who helped Israel execute the strike that killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata in the Gaza Strip in November, the Hamas Interior Ministry announced Sunday evening at a press conference.
"Since the shahid [martyr] Baha Abu al-Ata, the commander of the Islamic Jihad's military branch, was killed on Nov. 12, our security services have been investigating the crime. Through an intensive investigation, our security services have arrested a cell that collected information about Abu al-Ata, watched his movements, and tracked him," Hamas said.
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"The cell was tracking him for a few months until the hour before he was killed. After the cell members were interrogated, it turned out that … the commander of the cell is Shaaban Abdallah al-Ghabawi, who is head of intelligence for the Gaza Strip region in the Palestinian [PA] intelligence services. This person provided Israeli intelligence with direct information about Abu al-Ata," the message continued.
Hamas also claimed it had managed to obtain devices that al-Ghabawi used to contact Israel's Shin Bet security agency.
Meanwhile, Hamas' television station was broadcasting "filmed confessions from the collaborators" who allegedly helped Israel take out al-Ata. The broadcast showed the PA intelligence officers who Hamas claims belonged to the cell that tracked the target.
One of the accused said, "I got a call from al-Ghabawi, who started asking me where Baha lived, if he was in Shujaiyya or some other city. He made me responsible for keeping watch on Baha Abu al-Ata's home."
Al-Ata was targeted in November because he had carried out a series of cross-border attacks and was planning more.
The slaying of al-Ata in his Gaza home looked likely to pose a new challenge for Hamas.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran, said it would mount an "unprecedented response" to Israel's move, saying the Jewish state has "opened the gates of hell."
"Israel executed two coordinated attacks, in Syria and in Gaza, in a declaration of war," PIJ leader Khaled Al-Batsh said at al-Ata's funeral in Gaza.
