Israel Assassinates Another Hamas Commander?

By: Meir Javedanfar

On Saturday 28th of August the Palestinian News Agency MAAN reported that the night before, the body of a 38 year old man who had been stabbed to death was transferred to medics in the central Gaza Strip. According to the report, the murdered man’s name was Samy Anan. The report, quoting the director of Gaza ambulance and emergency services Muawiya Hassanein, stated that Anan had died after having sustained “several stab wounds to the legs and forearms, as well as several trauma wounds to the head.” His body was found near an old military base. No other information about who he was was provided.

However this morning, the Tehran based Khabar On Line news agency, quoting an article in the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported that Anan was in fact a battalion commander of Hamas’s military wing (Izz ad-Din al-Qassam). The Palestinian source quoted for this story is Palestine Information Center.

The report went on to say that Anan had in fact been assassinated. It also contradicted the original report which had stated that Anan was stabbed. In its report, Khabar On line states that “there was no major sign of damage to his body. It was determined later on that two poison syringes were injected into his left arm, and electric shock was delivered to the lower part of his stomach.”

The report blames Mossad for the assassination of Anan, as it says the method of his assassination is similar to that of Al Mabhouh in Dubai.

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam battalions issued a statement commiserating the death of their commander. They also went on a demonstration. At the end of the demonstration, a Hamas official placed the blame directly on Israel by stating that Anan had been killed by tools that “are not available in Gaza and only the Mossad and the Zionist regime have access to them”.

The contradictory stories are certainly worth noting. It is possible that Israel was behind the assassination of Anan. It is also possible that he was killed in a random act of crime, which Hamas is now trying to take advantage of by blaming it on Israel.

At the same time, we can not rule out the other possibility that he was killed as part of a power struggle within Hamas’s military wing. Or that the Palestinians found out that he had been working for the other side. After all, why should the Palestinian medics mistake the cause of his death by stating that he was killed by stab would to his arms, legs and his forehead? Such injuries are very easy to distinguish from injections to the left arm, and electric shock to the lower part of the stomach.

Just who is lying here, and why?

The death of Sami Anan seems to be a mystery. From a stab victim, it suddenly emerged that he was a Hamas military commander. The real reasons behind the death of this notable military figure may never be discovered.

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