It is the decapitation strategy, the elimination of representative figures. Israel is repeating what it did with the PLO and extremist groups in the 1970s and 1980s: since October 7, four Hamas leaders have been assassinated. The last one to be located by a raid was Jamila al shanti, the only woman on the executive council and wife of one of the founders of the movement, Abdel Aziz al Rantisi, who himself died in an attack in 2004.
The death has not been officially confirmed, but sources in Gaza believe the news may have substance. The Widow Rantisi was very active, like the other members of the “party”, which is why he appears on a list of objectives in which there are hardly any differences between the military and political wings. The Shin Bet (Israel’s intelligence service), together with military intelligence, searched for him and then transmitted the coordinates for the attack.
Hamas has said that Al Shanti, 64 years olddied in a bombing launched by the Israeli army on Tuesday night in Jabaliya, in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
Some Israeli sites have published a photo that includes the main figures, marking with a red circle the exponents killed in a short time: Zakaria Abu Ammar, head of the Department of National Relations; Jawad Abu Shamala, Jamila and Osama al Mazini. In the center of the image, Yahya Sinwar, target number one, currently wanted and captured along with the other major target, Mohammed Deif, leader of the Ezzedine al Qassam Brigades. The “ghost”, as he has been nicknamed by the media, has escaped half a dozen assassination attempts but has been severely mutilated.
Also in recent days, several officers accused by Jerusalem of having played a role in the assault on Saturday the 7th or coordinating the militiamen from the northern area to the Khan Younis sector died under shelling. However, It is not always easy to obtain information about their specific participation, although they are part of an armed movement that has been guilty of massacres and this inevitably makes them targets.