JERUSALEM—Two Hamas operatives who set off a cycle of violence three months ago that led to more than 2,000 dead Palestinians and the devastation of much of Gaza were cornered and shot dead early Tuesday by Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The pair, Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha, had been in hiding since picking up three hitchhiking Israeli yeshiva students last June and shooting them to death in their car.
Israeli security forces staged a massive, month-long search at the time for the three—two aged 16 and one 19—before uncovering their bodies. During the course of the search, Israel rounded up scores of Hamas operatives in the West Bank after learning that the organization was responsible for the murders.
In response, militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets into Israel. When the rocketing did not cease after several days, the Israeli Air Force attacked and the fighting escalated.
In the 50-day confrontation, part of which involved Israeli ground forces, more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed. Israel lost 73 soldiers and civilians.
Israeli officials said that the two wanted men had been moving from place to place in the Hebron area for the past three months, provided with food and shelter by the extensive Kawasmeh clan. At one point, they hid in an unused cesspool covered with sand and furnished with a small pipe for breathing. They also hid out in mosques, said officials. It is believed that they were planning to escape to Jordan when the search for them eased off.
After midnight last night, a police SWAT team surrounded the two-story carpentry workshop in which the wanted pair had taken shelter. When they responded to calls for surrender with shots, officials said, a bulldozer knocked down one side of the building and the two men were killed in a shootout. Three other members of the Kawasmeh clan living nearby were arrested.
The June kidnapping had apparently been staged in order to bargain for the release of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel as was done with kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Gaza three years ago. However, the grave for the victims had already been dug before the abduction. The kidnappers planned to kill them because it would have been too difficult to hide them on the West Bank. They planned to bargain for the release of prisoners in return for the bodies of the students.
Meanwhile, Hamas officials in Cairo today threatened not to take part in truce talks with Israel because of the killing of the two men in Hebron. The talks, scheduled to start in a few days under Egypt’s patronage, are aimed at achieving a long-term truce in Gaza. A senior Hamas official said that the matter had been reconsidered and that Hamas would participate in the talks.