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IDF Demolishes Three Houses Harboring Terrorist Hit Squad

March 17, 1989
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A day after Israel revealed the existence of a hit squad operating in the Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Force troops demolished three houses there suspected of harboring the terrorists.

Military sources say the terror ring, which was instructed to liquidate Arabs collaborating with the Israeli authorities, received guidance from Al Fatah headquarters in Jordan. Fatah is the military branch of the Palestine Liberation Organization headed by Yasir Arafat.

One three-story house demolished early Thursday morning belonged to three brothers of the Jelis family in the Tufah neighborhood in Gaza.

The three, who belonged to a gang of 11 members, confessed to murdering a worker at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Feb. 22, a woman whom they suspected of collaboration with the Israeli authorities.

One terrorist allegedly entered her office in the hospital and shot her at close range. Four days later, they shot another hospital worker in the head at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, wounding him seriously.

They were reportedly planning another assassination attempt, but were arrested before they could carry it out.

On Wednesday, the IDF arrested two teenage boys as they attempted to infiltrate Israel by crossing the Egyptian border. The interrogation revealed the existence of a network of “strike committees” operating in Gaza.

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