Last update - 00:00 23/03/2007
Top Hamas man charged with murder of 36 Israelis in string of attacks
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
The highest ranking Hamas militant wanted by Israel was charged recently with the murder of 36 Israeli civilians in a string of terrorist attacks since the beginning of the second Intifada.
The military court in Judea ruled that Ibrahim Hamad was guilty of coordinating three attacks in Jerusalem in 2002: the suicide bombing at the Moment Café, in which 11 people were killed; the suicide attack at the Sheffield Club, in which 16 people were killed; and the bombing at the Hebrew University, in which nine people were killed.
Hamas was also charged with responsibility for causing an explosion in a gas tanker at the Pli-Glilot facility, and for laying a bomb on railway track near Rehovot. In addition, he was charged with planning to place a large explosive device at the Tzvata club in Tel Aviv, an attack which was thwarted with the arrest of his accomplices.