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Operation al-Buraq was a foiled plot by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to carry out a sarin gas attack at a Jewish synagogue with the objective of provoking an Israeli response so harsh that it would force regional Islamic powers such as Iran to join Hamas in a war to destroy Israel. The plot, which bore striking similarities to the later "al-Aqsa Flood" operation of 2023, was masterminded by the Hamas arch-terrorist Taufiq Hammed, who had faked his death in 2013 before planning an al-Qaeda-style, mass-casualty attack, especially after a failed assassination attempt on him left his brother Bashir Hammed dead at his own wedding in 2015. The plot was ultimately foiled due to rogue Mista'arvim operative Doron Kabilio's infiltration of Hamas (posing as the group's designated suicide bomber), which allowed his teammates to kill the members of Hammed's cell. Shortly after, Hammed was executed by his right-hand man Walid al-Abed at the behest of Hamas political leader Abu Samara, who no longer tolerated Hammed's insubordination and recklessness.

History[]

Hammed's initial plan was to smuggle nerve gas through Aqaba and explosives through Syria; however, Shin Bet caught wind of this plan and arrested Hammed's mentor Ali Karmi, who was persuaded to identify Hammed as the mastermind in exchange for his sickly daughter receiving high-quality treatment at Israel's Hadassah Hospital. The revelation that Hammed was still alive prompted Mista'arvim commander Mickey Moreno to recruit his retired colleague Doron Kabilio, the man supposed to have killed Hammed, to help his team take out Hammed for good. He and Eli Daniel infiltrated the wedding of Taufiq's brother Bashir Hammed and his fiancee Amal at Safwad (north of Ramallah), where they believed Taufiq would briefly come out of hiding. However, their disguise as caterers was seen through by Taufiq's uncle Abu Khalil and Hamas commander Amjad Abu Khalef, resulting in a hasty escape and shootout that left Amjad and Bashir dead, Eli wounded in the leg, and Taufiq shot in the abdomen by a pursuing Kabilio.

The wedding incident forced Hammed back into hiding, while the widowed Amal sought to become a shahida to avenge her lost future. Through Hammed's right-hand man Walid al-Abed, she persuaded Hammed to allow her the chance to avenge her husband's death by bringing a remote-controlled bomb to a Tel Aviv nightclub that one of the Israeli agents, Boaz Capon, frequented, as evidenced by a matchbox left behind at the wedding venue. Instead of leaving the bomb at the nightclub, Amal stayed at the pub's bar as the bomb exploded, killing her and 5 others. The nightclub bombing hastened the Mista'arvim team's hunt for Hammed, who was hastily moved from the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus to an apartment safehouse, where Doctor Abu Sharif regularly attended to his medical needs.

Over the next several days, the Mista'arvim team repeatedly failed to capture Hammed. Hammed frequently moved safehouses as he gradually recovered from his injuries, forcing the Israelis to use duplicity to hunt him down. After Israeli undercover agent Nurit Shimon failed to steal the cell phone of Abu Sharif's fellow doctor Shirin al-Abed (who had helped move Hammed to a new safehouse) at a Ramallah public pool while posing as an Arab woman, Kabilio posed as Shimon's brother and was able to obtain the doctor's number after she remembered him for being a previous patient of hers (also while undercover). While Kabilio developed a relationship with Dr. al-Abed, Shin Bet captain Gabi Ayub persuaded Abu Khalil to lead Moreno's Mista'arvim team to Hammed under the pretext of Abu Khalil attempting to persuade Hammed to silence rumors that he was an Israeli agent (it had become widely known that his daughter was receiving treatments in an Israeli hospital). The plot fell through when the Israeli team's spotter Boaz Capon was captured by Hamas and taken hostage, and Hammed executed Abu Khalil for his betrayal.

At this point, the Mista'arvim team mutinied against both Moreno and the Israeli government by deciding to use extralegal methods to force a prisoner exchange. Kabilio and his men kidnapped and tortured Hammed's imam Sheikh Awadalla and took his daughter Abir captive, and they proposed to Hammed that they exchange prisoners; Hammed agreed to release Capon in exchange for Awadalla and 50 Palestinian prisoners in a handoff supervised by Defense Minister Gideon Avital. However, both sides reneged on their ends of the bargain; Hammed had Shirin surgically implant Capon with a bomb, while the Mista'arvim operatives presented the Hamas representatives with Awadalla and Abir, wearing suicide vests; Kabilio had discovered the surgery from Shirin. When Hammed had Capon blown up out of anger, Kabilio responded by blowing up Awadalla, while Abir was wounded in the eye. Abir received treatment at the Hadassah Hospital under the auspices of Ayub and her mother Nassrin Hammed, while the Mista'arvim team was ordered to be disbanded by Defense Minister Avital. Moreno would later force Avital to keep the team active by threatening to reveal how the two of them had executed five Hamas captives in Gaza.

The blowing up of Sheikh Awadalla created a furor among the Palestinians, and Hammed hastened his plans for a mass-casualty terrorist attack on Israel. His uncle Abu Khalil, who was used to smuggling money from Jordanian donors to the families of Hamas martyrs, smuggled sarin gas into the country for Samir Zulka to fashion into a suicide vest. Walid al-Abed was entrusted with recruiting a bomber for the operation, and Kabilio - who had deserted after failing to save his brother-in-law Boaz - visited Shirin in Ramallah to patch up a gunshot wound sustained during the failed hostage exchange. While at her apartment, he foiled Hamas terrorists Bassem Sfadi and Nidal Naama's mission to murder Shirin on Hammed's orders; Hammed believed that Shirin had informed the Israelis about Capon's bomb. Kabilio killed Nidal and forced Bassem to reveal that Hammed was in Nablus' old city recruiting suicide bombers, and he obtained the passphrase from him before shooting him. After having Shirin check into a hotel (unbeknownst to him, run by one of Walid's informants), Kabilio presented himself to the Hamas recruiters as a Palestinian who had lost his brother-in-law to an Israeli bombing. His testimony about his reasons for martyrdom impressed both Walid and Hammed, and he was recruited as the suicide bomber. Shortly after, the Palestinian Preventive Security arrested him to prevent him from carrying out an attack, but Ayub visited Kabilio in jail and persuaded PPS chief Abu Maher to allow for Kabilio to be transferred to an Israeli jail. There, Kabilio informed Ayub of how close he was to foiling Hammed's plans, and Ayub persuaded a reluctant Avital to allow Kabilio to go along with the suicide bombing plot in exchange for Kabilio being pardoned for his mutiny in the case that he survived.

In the meantime, Walid secretly grew alienated from Hammed over Hammed's unilateral decision to have Shirin murdered, his reckless quest to avenge his brother (which endangered the whole organization), and his evil plan to provoke a massive Middle Eastern war in which both Palestine and Israel would suffer heavy civilian losses before Israel could be destroyed. Walid persuaded Hamas political leader Abu Samara to sanction Hammed's assassination, but Abu Samara instructed Walid to carry out the killing himself, giving him a handgun. Walid initially relented in his quest to kill Hammed, and he went along with the operation as it neared its final stages.

Mista'arvim operatives looking at Hammed's body

Mista'arvim operatives looking at Hammed's body

On the day of the operation, Kabilio met with Hammed, the getaway driver Khaled al-Yahudi, the guard Najib More, and the bomb-maker Samir Zulka at a ruin in Beitunia, south of Ramallah. Hammed gave Kabilio his blessing, while Yahudi prepared Hammed to blow up his sarin gas vest at a Jewish synagogue. Meanwhile, Walid's marriage proposal to his cousin Shirin was spurned, and he believed that it was because of her mysterious lover, whom he took to be a PPS member. Walid confronted PPS chief Abu Maher at his office and demanded to know about the undercover operative, but Abu Maher showed him surveillance photo revealing that the man was not a PPS operative, but a Jew who was friends with Ayub of Shin Bet. Walid recognized the man as Kabilio, and he radioed Yahudi and told him to send Hammed far away from the staging area before executing Kabilio. Kabilio's team caught wind of this plan and moved in just before Yahudi could shoot Kabilio, whom he told to pray in his native language. The Mista'arvim operatives gunned down Yahudi, More, and Zulka, thwarting the suicide attack. Shortly after, Walid confronted Hammed at his safehouse and had him watch the footage proving that Kabilio was an Israeli spy. Now that Hammed's plan was thwarted, Walid shot Hammed in the back of the head, putting an end to the now-useless liability to Hamas. Mista'arvim operatives found Hammed's body in his safehouse not long after, confirming his death and the failure of his plot. The Mista'arvim team returned to its normal duties, and Kabilio was pardoned of any charges stemming from his earlier mutiny.

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