Jamal Abu Samhadana, the Palestinian cabinet Security Chief and the so called number two figure on Israel's most wanted list, was killed Thursday during an Israeli raid in Rafah, a town in the southern part of Gaza, where the Israeli air force struck a PRC training camp, since they believed militant fighters there were planning a large-scale attack against Israel. Three other militant fighters died and 10 were severely wounded in the assault, which damaged electricity in the area.


43 year old Samhadana, leader of a PRC faction, played a very important role in the planned rocket attacks against Israel, as well as in the deadly 2003 bomb attack against an American military convoy in the Gaza Strip, since he was expert in explosive materials.

The attack is likely to cause more tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Hamas-led Government stating that Samhadana's assassination can be labeled as a direct insult of the Palestinian Authority and thus, it requires a likewise reply.

Khaled Abu Hilal, the spokesman of the Interior Ministry stated: "We consider this targeting today of Abu Samhadana, the overseer of the Ministry of Interior, a serious Israeli escalation and the realization of earlier threats to target symbols of the Palestinian government. Our response will be further adherence to our positions and to the legitimacy of resistance", while Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Government declared that the killing of such an important Government official "foretells dangerous consequences and developments, and leaves the situation open to all options."

The Popular Resistance Committees faction, initially led by Samhadana, pledged revenge against the Israeli authorities.