Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately sought to eliminate Palestinian Islamic Jihad group leader Baha Abu al-Ata after a September rocket attack forced the premier to leave the stage during a pre-election campaign rally in Ashdod, but commanders from the Israel Defence Forces and the Shin Bet security service forced him to postpone the operation, The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday citing Hebrew-language media outlets.
On 10 September, rockets fired in the direction of Ashdod and nearby Ashkelon, reportedly orchestrated from Gaza by Islamic Jihad chief al-Ata, triggered sirens that forced Netanyahu to interrupt a campaign speech and rush off the stage in order to take shelter.
#BREAKING: Netanyahu being evecuated from stage during an election rally in Ashdod, after sirens were heard; 5 rockets launched, no injuries reported pic.twitter.com/0S4DgKjd6m
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) September 10, 2019
Although the Israeli prime minister later returned to continue the address, he was reportedly frustrated by the incident, which happened just a week before the Knesset election on 17 September, and forced his security officials to proceed with an operation to eliminate Baha Abu al-Ata. It was, however, reported that military commanders forced Netanyahu to postpone the operation, fearing too many civilian deaths.
The plan to target al-Ata was then reportedly discussed by Israeli ministers several times following the 10 September attack and approved on 3 November, but the Cabinet was forced to delay the operation after Education Minister from the hardline party Jewish Home Rafi Peretz hinted at the plan, openly discussing the idea of reviving targeted killings. The Cabinet’s final decision to kill the Islamic Jihad commander was then reportedly made on 10 November.
The IDF announced via Twitter, on 12 November, that Gaza-based Jihadist commander Baha Abu al-Ata had been killed as a result of an Israeli military strike on his home in the early hours of Tuesday, targeting only the specific room where the militant and his wife were sleeping, thus leaving other parts of the building intact. An IDF spokesman later said that al-Ata was "a ticking bomb" and allegedly plotting "imminent" attacks on Israel.
BREAKING: We just targeted Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, Baha Abu Al Ata.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 12, 2019
Al Ata was directly responsible for hundreds of terror attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
His next attack was imminent.#JihadEnough pic.twitter.com/h6VXzdwcmz
Al-Ata’s assassination was met with more than 200 rockets Tuesday, allegedly launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza. The movement has vowed to avenge its commander’s death. Israel later stated it intercepted 90 percent of the aforementioned projectiles, and subsequently carried out several airstrikes towards Gaza’s training compounds, killing several Palestinian militants in the process.
Baha Abu al-Ata was reported to be a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip, allegedly planning a new attack against Israel. He was previously seen as the mastermind behind hundreds of terror attacks, reportedly including one that sparked panic during a major children’s festival in Sderot in August this year.
