Muhammad Hajila, a member of the Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades who was killed overnight Friday by IDF fire in the Gaza Strip, was part of the cell that carried out an attack on the Israeli community of Nahal Oz during the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas-affiliated media reported.
A number of IAF fighter jets attacked a terrorist target inside a military compound belonging to Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip around 1 AM Friday. The attack came in response to the detonating of an explosive device against an IDF bulldozer near the border fence on Thursday.
After the air attack, Hamas machine guns fired at one of the aircraft, which was not damaged and turned back to fire at the gunner squad. Local Arab sources have reported two terrorist casualties as a result of this attack. Hajila was one of the two dead gunners.
At first, Hamas portrayed Hajila as a civilian who had been killed by IDF fire, but the photographs of his body in an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades uniform and the rumors that began flying throughout the Gaza Strip revealed that he was actually a terrorist.
Two of Hajila’s brothers were killed in terrorist activities, one in 2004, the other in 2008.
The Hamas squad attack on an IDF guard post outside Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border, resulted in the death of five out of the eight soldiers who manned the post. Hamas uploaded a video of the attack which was celebrated around the Arab world. The IDF was heavily criticized at the time for what was seen as catastrophic failure.
