Adnan al-Ghoul

Who was Adnan al-Ghoul?

Adnan Al-Ghoul was the assistant of Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. He was killed in a targeted killing along with Imad Abbas when an Israeli Air Force Apache helicopter fired missiles at their car in Gaza on 21 October 2004. By Hamas members he is seen as a martyr.

Adnan Al-Ghoul was one of the senior operatives in Hamas' military-terrorist apparatus. He specialized in explosives and among other attacks was behind the 1995 terrorist attack at the Beit Lid junction in central Israel, and the 1996 bombing at Dizengoff Center in the heart of Tel Aviv, together responsible for the deaths of 32 Israelis.

Adnan was not an "ordinary rank-and-file" terrorist operative but rather a top-ranking terrorist of Hamas' military-terrorist apparatus in the Gaza Strip. He specialized in the preparation of IEDs and developed the Qassam rocket system for Hamas. He was the right-hand man of Muhammad Deif, head of Hamas' military-terrorist wing, and had an important role in Hamas' plot to sabotage the Oslo Accords. For example, Al-Ghoul was involved in manufacturing the bombs used in the double attack at the Beit Lid junction in the center of Israel on 22 January, 1995, in which 22 Israelis were killed. He also prepared the explosive belt for the 1996 Purim suicide bombing at Dizengoff Center in the heart of Tel Aviv, in which ten Israeli civilians were killed. He died in an Israeli Air Force targeted killing on 21 October 2004.