 "Who was Jamila al-Shanti, the first woman in Hamas politburo, killed by Israel?")
Israel has responded to the 7 October attack by killing a number of top Hamas officials. The Times of Israel quoted Hamas-affiliated media in Gaza as reporting that Jamila al-Shanti was killed in Israeli airstrikes. Al-Shanti was the first woman in Hamas’ political bureau. The news was posted on X:
استشهاد الصديقة العزيزة الاستشهادية (جميلة الشنطي) عضو المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس في غزة … (انا لله وانا اليه راجعون) … #طوفان_الأقصى pic.twitter.com/Gk9OTZpuC8
— محمد عبد العزيز الرنتيسي (@M_alrantisi1979) October 19, 2023
The post read: “The martyrdom of my dear friend, Jamila Al-Shanti, a member of the political bureau of the Hamas movement in Gaza… (To God we belong and to Him we shall return).” Information about the strike remains scarce with the reports only mentioning that it happened at dawn. As per The Times of Israel, al-Shanti’s death takes the number of Hamas’ political bureau members killed in airstrikes since the 7 October attack to four. But what do we know about al-Shanti? And which other top Hamas officials have been killed? Let’s take a closer look: Who is al-Shanti? Al-Shanti is the first woman elected to Hamas’ highest decision-making body. She was the widow of Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. As per The Week, Rantisi died in an Israeli airstrike in 2004 during the Second Intifada. As per Palestine Chronicle, al-Shanti was born in 1957.
She was a Palestinian refugee from Gaza’s Jabaliya Refugee Camp.
She had a Ph.D. in English and was among a slew of women elected in 2006 as part of the Hamas electoral list. She did so after being elected a member of the Legislative Council for the “Change and Reform” bloc. As per Jersualem Post, Shanti was a founder of Hamas’s women’s movement As per The Times of Israe_l, the 68-year al-Shanti was elected to Hamas’ political bureau in 2021. “This confirms the Hamas movement’s respect for Palestinian women, their struggle, heroism, and sacrifices,” a senior Hamas official told Palestinian media outlet Dunya al-Watan in 2021._ As per The Week, al-Shanti told Palestine’s Al-Aqsa TV channel at the time that women in Hamas leadership would make ‘priceless contributions’ to the future of the movement. As a (Palestinian) women’s movement, we haven’t been officially in the Hamas political bureau before, but we have participated in the organization and in decision-making during the preceding period,” al-Shanti told the media organisation. “This means that Palestinian women have an identity and power (that can be expressed directly) on the Palestinian political scene, and their effective participation has made them worthy of being in any position,” al-Shanti added. Other top Hamas officials killed Israel has systematically targeted top Hamas officials in response for the 7 October attacks. As per The Times of Israel, Zakariya Abu Moammar, Jawad Abu Shamala and Osama Mazini are the other top Hamas officials killed by Israel in airstrikes. Moammar was the head of the terror group’s internal relations, while Shamala was in charge of the group’s funds.
Moammar and Shamala were both killed on 10 October.
Mazini, a senior member of the political bureau, was killed on 16 October. Mazini was a former head of Hamas’s Shura Council and a Hamas education minister. As per The Times of India, Mazini was the head of the Shura Council of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He was involved in the capture of prisoners and directed attacks against Israel. Top Hamas commanders wiped out Israel has also killed a number of Hamas’ top commanders. According to News18, Ayman Nofal, a senior Hamas armed commander in Gaza, was killed earlier this week. The news was confirmed by Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades – an armed wing of Hamas – on Tuesday. Nofal was a member of the higher military council of Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades.
He was in charge of the Central Gaza area.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAs per The Times of Israel, General Jihad Muheisen, chief of the Palestinian National Security Forces in the Gaza Strip was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. As per Jerusalem Post, Muheisen died in the attack with his family. The IDF is yet to confirm his death. Rafat Abu Hilal, the head of the military wing of Gaza’s Popular Resistance Committees terror group, was also killed. The group is the third-largest terror outfit on the Strip – after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as per The Times of Israel. Khan Yunis, Hamas’ head of General Intelligence, was also killed on Monday, as per Jerusalem Post. As per NDTV, top Hamas commander Billal Al Kedra was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday. Al Kedra was a commander of the ‘elite’ Nukhba force, a highly trained Hamas unit under the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Al Kedra, who was in charge of the Kibbutz Nirim massacre in Israel, was killed in Khan Yunis – a city in the south of Gaza Strip. Nirim, a settlement near the Gaza border, was one of the targets attacked by Hamas. The Israel Air Forces last week said that it killed Murad Abu Murad – the head of Hamas’s Air Force – in an overnight airstrike. The strike targeted a headquarters from which Hamas managed its aerial activity in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Air Force said that Murad Abu Murad “was largely responsible for directing terrorists during the massacre on Saturday.” In a post on X, the Israeli Air Force stated, “Also, during the last day, fighter jets of the Air Force attacked the operational headquarters of the terrorist organization Hamas, from where the organization’s aerial activities were managed. During the attack, Murad Abu Murad, the head of the air formation in Gaza City who took a large part and directed terrorists in the murderous attack on Saturday, was killed.” With inputs from agencies
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