Bashar Hamdan was a Palestinian professional boxer and Hamas terrorist. Radicalized by the death of his cousin Fauzi Hamdan at the hands of undercover Israeli agent Doron Kabilio, who had previously coached Bashar in boxing as "Abu Fadi", Bashar joined his father in kidnapping two Israeli students in 2019 as a means of proving that he was not involved in Kabilio's infiltration of Hamas. Bashar was further radicalized by the deaths of his uncle and father at Doron's hands, and he became a celebrated Hamas hero in the aftermath of the Israelis' rescue of the surviving hostage from Gaza. Rather than rising through Hamas' ranks, however, Bashar returned to Israel to kidnap the former hostage Yaara Zarhi once again, on the date that he was supposed to have competed in a boxing tournament in Amman, Jordan, and he executed her to cause Doron a similar pain to that which Bashar had felt over the loss of his family and his future. Bashar was then arrested and imprisoned for murder, kidnapping, and terrorism.
Biography[]
Hamdan in 2019
Bashar Hamdan was born in Dhahiriyah, West Bank, the son of Jihad Hamdan and Noor, the brother of Hayfa, the nephew of Nasser Hamdan, and the cousin of Fauzi Hamdan. Bashar grew up without a father figure, as his father was imprisoned by the Israelis for 20 years due to his activities as a Hamas terrorist. Bashar took up boxing as his hobby, training at his uncle's gym, and he developed a relationship with Safaa Elghani, an Israeli Bedouin girl. Hamdan had dreams of becoming the "Palestinian Muhammad Ali" and of moving abroad, and, when the Israeli undercover agent Doron Kabilio assumed the identity of the Israeli Arab boxing coach "Abu Fadi" and took Bashar under his wing in 2019 in order to get close to Fauzi's family, Bashar came to see Abu Fadi as his father figure.
Six months into Abu Fadi's infiltration, Abu Fadi asked Bashar to arrange a meeting between himself and Fauzi, as he claimed that he wished to sell Fauzi smuggled explosives. When Bashar met with Fauzi, however, Fauzi said that Abu Fadi was an Israeli spy, as he had likely killed his henchman Ziad, his backstory of being a boxing coach and explosives dealer was implausible, and he discovered the written-down phone number of an Israeli family visitation center at Abu Fadi's apartment. Fauzi told Bashar to arrange for Abu Fadi to meet him at the boxing gym at midnight, but Bashar instead went to Abu Fadi's apartment to both confront him and warn him. Bashar was infuriated and distraught that Kabilio betrayed him, but he still warned him about the trap. Fauzi and his men greeted Bashar and Doron as they left Doron's apartment, and Fauzi branded Bashar as a traitor, even after Jihad arrived. Only an Israeli Mista'arvim raid prevented Bashar and Doron from being executed, and Doron killed Fauzi as he fled.
Fauzi's death led Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades chief of staff Hani al-Jabari to deduce that Bashar was a traitor, and he told Jihad's father that Bashar could either lure Abu Fadi into a trap and kill the infiltrator himself, or Bashar would pay for his negligence with his life. Bashar ran away from home, afraid for his life, and - desperate to prove his loyalty to Hamas - he infiltrated a Jewish kibbutz with a knife. His father arrived in time to rescue him before he would throw his life away, but that incident caused Shin Bet to halt its efforts to rescue Bashar at Doron's behest. Abu Fauzi later tracked down Jihad and Bashar, and Bashar - afraid for his life - was forced to set up a meeting with Doron in Jenin, where Abu Fauzi would kill Doron in a suicide bombing. When this failed, and Abu Fauzi was shot by the Israelis, Bashar and his father were forced to flee, with both Hamas and Israel after them.
Jihad and Bashar in Gaza
When the two observed a campfire in the Wadi Qelt desert, Jihad and Bashar decided to prove their loyalty to Hamas by kidnapping a pair of 18-year-old Israeli premilitary academy students, Yaara Zarhi and Elad Banali. The two of them brought the hostages first to the policeman Abu Rami's home, and then into the Lehavim Forest and to a Sderot pumping station, where they found a Hamas tunnel and made their way into Gaza, with the Israelis in hot pursuit. The Nukhba commandos detonated an explosive charge to collapse the tunnel before Doron and his team could rescue the hostages, and Bashar and Jihad made their way to al-Jabari in Gaza. Jabari celebrated the two as heroes and "guests of honor" for their bold operation, and he had the two given a high-end hotel room while the hostages were taken under his supervision.
While confined in the apartment, Bashar grew upset that he could not access the hotel's gym, and he decided to continue his boxing training on the balcony. His father, sad to see his son's dreams dashed, contacted his friend Samir Abu Samhadana and sought to have him smuggle Bashar out of the country. At the same time, Doron's Mista'arvim team infiltrated Gaza, and they killed Jihad after tracking his phone and failing to apprehend him. A vengeful Bashar decided to stay in Gaza, and, after the hostage Elad Banali was killed in a failed escape attempt from Shifa Hospital, Bashar brought Yaara Zarhi - for whom he had developed feelings - to Abu Samhadana's estate for safekeeping. The Israelis attempted to capture Bashar as he visited his father's body at the Shifa Hospital morgue, but Bashar was able to fatally wound Avihai Ben-Haim, one of Doron's close friends, before fleeing to Abu Samhadana's estate. Jabari was captured in the hospital raid, and the Israelis decided to use him as a Trojan horse to gain access to Abu Samhadana's estate and retrieve Yaara. Bashar, who had taken refuge there as he prepared to leave for Egypt with the girl, realized that Jabari was unarmed, and he told Abu Samhadana that Jabari's Nukhba guards were the Israelis. As a result, a firefight broke out, and Bashar fled with Yaara as Abu Samhadana and his guards were killed. Yaara threw herself from Bashar's vehicle in the desert as the Israelis pursued, and Doron recovered Yaara before he and his team took her back to the border, escorting her home.
With Jihad and Jabari both dead, Bashar was honored by Hamas as a hero, and "the Sheikh", Hamas' leader, offered to give Bashar command of the Nukhba Force. However, Bashar instead suggested that he deliver a boxing-style "knockout punch" to the Israelis, and he was given two elite commandos, Musa al-Astal and Badee Naji Abed, to fulfill this purpose. The three of them infiltrated Israel via tunnels, carjacked and murdered an Israeli settler at Gush Etzion, and took his car to al-Ramadin, near Hebron, from which they planned their attack. Bashar and his men forced Shin Bet captain Gabi Ayub's nurse Fahed to assassinate Ayub at his physiotherapy appointment as Bashar and his team headed to Beit Zayit, where Yaara lived. An Israeli raid on al-Ramadin captured Musa and killed Badee, and Musa identified Hamdan as the third gunman. Ayub was able to thwart Fahed's assassination attempt, but Bashar headed to Beit Zayit to carry out the final attack alone. He took Yaara hostage once again and called Doron to tell him about his plan, and, when Doron and special forces arrived to besiege the home, Doron attempted to switch himself for the young girl. However, Bashar - whose family had been killed by Doron, and whose future had been ruined - decided to cause Doron a similar lifelong pain by executing Yaara. Bashar then surrendered to the police, and Doron had to be restrained by the police as he attempted to shoot Bashar dead as he was hauled away. Bashar was then sent to prison, where the other Islamist inmates greeted him as a hero.