Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group has said that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia on Saturday was a key member of the organisation, raising suspicions that Israel was behind the killing.
Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh was a “loyal” member and a “scientist of Palestine’s youth scholars”. It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made important contributions and participated in international forums in the field of energy.
The funeral service by the Islamic movement’s militant wing suggested al-Batsh was one of its military commanders. At a mourning house in the Gaza Strip, a banner described al-Batsh as a member of the military wing.
Ten masked men in camouflage uniforms stood in a line outside the tent in Jabaliya, the victim’s home town, to greet mourners. The ceremony is typical for senior Hamas commanders.
Hamas stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been “assassinated by the hand of treachery”. But relatives of al-Batsh believe that Israel targeted him.
Malaysian police say the 34-year-old was shot by two assailants who fired at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lumpur. It said CCTV footage showed him being targeted by gunmen who had waited almost 20 minutes for him to arrive.
Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said the government was looking into the possibility that “foreign agents” were involved in his killing. He told local media that initial investigations showed the assailants were white men riding a powerful BMW 1100cc motorbike.
The Israeli government had no comment but it allegedly has a long history of targeting wanted Palestinian militants during overseas operations. It has been linked to other killings, too, although it has rarely acknowledged them publicly.
Al-Batsh specialised in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.
Israeli media reported that he was also deeply involved in the Hamas drone development project.
Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies who have fought three wars since 2008. Tensions have risen in recent weeks with a series of mass protests along the Gaza border in which 32 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops since late March.
Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a crippling border blockade, which was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections. It says it also aims to assert the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel.
Israel accuses Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has carried out dozens of suicide bombings against it, of cynically exploiting Gaza civilians for its political aims by staging protests and trying to carry out attacks under their cover.
Protesters are aiming to participate in a large border march on 15 May, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their “nakba”, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted from their homes.