A Fatah supporter argues with a member of Hamas security force in Gaza, September 7, 2007 (REUTERS)
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli special forces have captured a senior commander in the Hamas security forces in the southern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Islamist group said on Saturday.
Mohawah al-Qadi, a senior member of Hamas’s armed wing and a commander in its paramilitary Executive Force, was nabbed late Friday by undercover troops in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza, where Hamas violently seized power three months ago.
“A special Zionist force wearing Executive Force uniform entered George street in eastern Rafah in a civilian Subaru car and then headed towards the Sufa crossing” with Israel, Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment.
Al-Qadi, arrested together with his assistant Saqer Abd al-Al, was “responsible for the Executive Force public relations,” the group said.
The Israeli army regularly carries out ground and air raids across the Gaza Strip in a bid to curb incessant Palestinian rocket fire.
Security forces from the Hamas Islamist movement patrol in a street in Gaza City September 7, 2007 (REUTERS)
Palestinian members of the Hamas Executive Force use their batons as they detain a Fatah supporter during clashes at a protest following Muslim prayers in Gaza City, Sept. 7, 2007 (AP)
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