[SwF] Israel Assassinates Sheikh Yassin, Hamas Spiritual Leader

 
Israel Assassinates Hamas Spiritual Leader

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-03/22/article01.shtml

     
      ‎“Sheikh Yassin lived for Palestine and Al-Quds and always prayed for martyrdom,” ‎said one Hamas leader 
     

By Mustafa el-Sawaf, IOL Correspondent

GAZA CITY, March 22 (IslamOnline.net) – Israeli occupation forces assassinated in the small hours of Monday, March 22, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, triggering an immediate outcry across occupied Palestine.

An Israeli helicopter gunship fired missiles at crippled Yassin and his entourage while in their way back home following the dawn prayers, IslamOnline.net correspondent says.

“Sheikh Yassin was dead when he came to hospital,” Doctor Gomaa El-Saqa, of El-Shifaa hospital in Gaza, told IOL.

The aging spiritual leader of Hamas has been the target of numerous Israeli assassination attempts.

On September 6, an Israeli F-16 fighter jet fired several missiles at a three-story building at Al-Rimal downtown neighborhood in Gaza City where Sheikh Yassein was but he survived with just a small wound to his hand.

Initial reports indicate that at least six of Sheikh Yassin’s associates where also killed in the Israeli air strike while two of his sons were wounded.

The heinous Israeli crime triggered an immediate retaliation threat from Hamas leaders.

“The assassination of Sheikh Yassin will break the doors of hell loose,” Ismail Abu Haniya, a leading figure of Hamas, told IOL.

“Sheikh Yassin lived for Palestine and Al-Quds and always prayed for martyrdom,” he said, with tears in his eyes.

“The Zionist entity has crossed all line by assassinating Sheikh Yassin,” warned the Hamas leader. 

Thousands of angry Palestinians immediately poured into the streets of Gaza and marched towards the home of Sheikh Yassin and El-Shifaa hospital.

The assassination of Sheikh Yassin only comes a few hours after Israeli occupation forces killed six Palestinians in Khan Yunis.

On Thursday, August 21, Israel assassinated senior Hamas political leader Ismail Abu Shanab drawing the group’s declaration of ending the unilateral truce declared by the main Palestinian resistance factions on June 29.