In 1st targeted assassination by IAF since end of Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, terrorist named as Hitham Mashal, a rocket manufacturing expert & member of jihadist group operating in Gaza & Sinai was killed in a surgical strike.

A Gaza-based terrorist linked to a rocket attack on Eilat earlier this month was killed at around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning in a targeted strike by the Israel Air Force, as he drove his motorcycle in the northern Gaza Strip.

Smoke rises from IAF surgical strike in Gaza during Operation Pillar of Defense, Nov. 2012 Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Israeli security sources named the man as 24-year-old northern Gaza resident Hitham Mashal, calling him a Salafist who was active in multiple jihadist organizations.

“Mashal dealt in the manufacturing, upgrading, and trade of firearms, particularly rockets and bombs, which he delivered to various terror organizations for profit and to promote terrorism against the IDF and Israeli civilians,” the Shin Bet security service said following the attack. The IAF carried out the air strike in coordination with the Shin Bet.

Mashal provided arms to the Shura Council of the Mujahideen in the Environs of Jerusalem, an organization said to be linked to al-Qaeda and operating in the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. The group, which advocates violence against Jews, was behind the rocket attack on Eilat earlier this month, as well as previous strikes on the western Negev. He was also a member of

“Mashal was involved in promoting and carrying out that [the Eilat] attack,” said sources in the Shin Bet. “His activities were known to Hamas, which refrained from stopping him.”

“Hamas is responsible for preventing attacks carried out, planned, and advanced in Gaza,” the sources said.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/IAF-kills-global-jihadi-member-in-the-Gaza-Strip-311550