Hamas rocket engineer assassinated in Malaysia, Israel ‘blamed’ for hit

A Palestinian rocket engineer killed in Malaysia received funeral honors in Gaza reserved from high-ranking Hamas military commanders. Hamas said Israel was responsible.

By: World Israel News Staff

A 35-year-old Hamas engineer named Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, described by the terrorist organization as a “loyal” member, was killed on the streets of Kuala Lumpur in a drive-by motorcycle shooting early Saturday morning.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim announced that one of two suspects on the motorcycle “fired 10 shots, four of which hit [Batsh] in the head and body. He died on the spot.”

According to Hadashot TV news, Hamas ships young Gazans to Malaysia for technical training, with the nation deemed a a “paradise” for the terrorist organization by Israel’s Channel 10.

In Gaza, at the entrance of mourner’s tent erected by Hamas, a banner lauded Batsh as a “commander” in the terror group, which also positioned ten masked fighters there, adhering to protocol for senior Hamas commander funerals.

Hamas referred to the dead engineer as a “martyr” and his family immediately blamed the Israeli intelligence service for orchestrating the hit.

While Batsh was affiliated with Hamas, his cousin Khaled al-Batsh serves as a senior official in the Islamic Jihad terror group. The cousin joined other family members blaming the Mossad for the assassination.

Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, told local media that the assailants were “white men” driving a BMW motorbike and that an initial investigation indicated they were Europeans linked to a foreign intelligence agency, reported Reuters.