Adel Tawalbe (died 2023) was a Palestinian Preventive Security policeman and Hezbollah cell leader in the West Bank. In 2023, he was responsible for a series of rocket attacks on Israel that killed 8 civilians, and he was killed in a Mista'arvim raid on his hideout shortly after attending the funeral of his cousin Omar Tawalbe in Jenin.
Biography[]
Adel Tawalbe was born in Jenin, the son of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander, the nephew of Ihad Tawalbe, and the cousin of Maya and Omar Tawalbe. In 2002, his uncle sold out Adel's father and the rest of the PIJ's Jenin leadership, resulting in an orphaned Adel becoming radicalized. He concealed his views by joining the Palestinian Preventive Security, serving in Abu Osama's bureau. Adel secretly founded a Hezbollah cell in West Bank, unique in that its members were mostly Sunni Palestinians rather than Shia Lebanese; the cell effectively assumed the local PIJ's functions. In 2023, his cell carried out a string of bank robberies meant to starve the Palestinian Authority of cash and to fund the acquisition of missile parts in preparation for a series of rocket attacks on Israel that would lure Israel into war with Lebanon and other Middle Eastern powers, such as Iran.
Tawalbe planning the missile attacks
The Israeli Mista'arvim learned of the bank robbers' terrorist ties after capturing Jamal Masalha following a failed bank heist in Jenin, and, after Shin Bet interrogated Masalha, Adel slit Masalha's throat in his cell before going on the run, the Israelis now suspecting him of involvement in the robbery spree. After Abu Osama arrested Adel's wife Shara Tawalbe and disrespected her by yanking off her hijab, the policeman Musab al-Adas defected to Tawalbe and helped lure Abu Osama into a trap. Adel entered Abu Osama's car as it stalled in the countryside near Jenin, and he confronted Abu Osama over his disrespecting of his wife before shooting him dead. At the same time, Omar Tawalbe, based in Brussels, lured Shin Bet captain Gabi Ayub into a trap and interrogated him about the identities and addresses of Israeli intelligence operatives and Palestinian informants. Adel's team wiped out Shin Bet's informants in Jenin and succeeded in killing IDF colonel Elad Kaspi and Mossad agent Lavi Mizrahi before al-Adas, one of the gunmen, was captured. The Mista'arvim team responded by staking out Adel's home in Jenin, and their attempt to attract his attention by setting off a small explosion led to the injury of his son in a car bombing. Meanwhile, the Israelis forced al-Adas to become an informant, lest they expose his homosexual relationship with Ismail Tamimi, and al-Adas approached Adel at the hospital and made his way back into Adel's service. Adel and al-Adas drove away from the hospital as the Israelis sent in a Predator drone to strike the car once Musab stepped out. However, when Musab asked Adel if they could buy cigarettes, Adel was the one to leave the car and stand away from it as an Israeli drone struck the vehicle, killing Musab. Adel, believed dead by the Israelis, went on to have the Shin Bet agent Zaid Dudi ambushed and killed as he waited to meet Musab at a prearranged site.
Not long after, Hezbollah leader Haj Ali called Adel to inform him that two Jewish agents had infiltrated Lebanon, and he asked Adel to speed up his operation. Adel planned to launch twenty missiles at Lod Airport, Kfar Saba, Afula, and the refineries near Haifa, but the father of one of the slain hitmen from the earlier attack on the Israeli intelligence officers - angry at Hezbollah for brainwashing his son - informed the Israelis that he had often seen Adel's men congregate at Abu Subkhi's garage on al-Yasmin Street in Jenin. In the ensuing Mista'arvim raid, Adel and his right-hand man Nael escaped, but their basement weapons cache was captured, and the Israelis discovered his rocket attack plot.
Adel was initially willing to accept defeat, especially after the Israeli agents in Lebanon rescued the captive Ayub, killed Haj Ali and several other Hezbollah militants, and executed Omar, but his wife persuaded him to continue the fight and become a Palestinian hero. Tawalbe posted on the Islamic Jihad website that he planned to launch missile attacks on central Israel at 9 PM one night, causing the IDF to declare a full reserve-army draft. Adel and his men took over Abu Ibrahim's junkyard against the man's will, setting up rocket launchers for the attacks. Missiles were shot down over Afula, Hadera, Caesarea, and Or Akiva, other barrages were fired at Kfar Saba, Tzur Yigal, and the southern Sharon region, and two missiles were fired at Tel Aviv, killing 8 Israeli civilians. The Israelis arrested Abu Ibrahim shortly after, and he revealed that Adel was based at al-Fajr in the Jenin refugee camp. Refusing to send in ground troops, lest they trigger Palestinian resistance across the West Bank, the Israelis conjured a clever plan to return Omar Tawalbe's body to Jenin, only for Mista'arvim agents disguised as Hamas fighters to steal Omar's body and launch their own funeral procession so as to lure out Adel.
Tawalbe's death
Sure enough, Adel and his henchmen attempted to crash the procession. When one of the Israeli agents, Doron Kabilio, warned Maya to take her mother and leave the procession, Maya - betrayed by Doron's earlier duplicity - warned Adel that the "Hamas fighters" were actually Jewish special forces. Adel and his men fled to a nearby abandoned building, from which they laid down heavy fire on the IDF soldiers and the Mista'arvim team sent to besiege them. A sniper killed all of the IDF soldiers and wounded almost all of the Mista'arvim operatives, but Doron and Shani Russo stormed the building. Adel critically wounded Shani before Doron charged Adel and wrestled with him until he could stab the terrorist leader dead.