IDF Spokesperson May 28th, 2009

Senior Hamas Operative, Responsible for the Murder of 10 Israelis and
Wounding of Hundreds was Killed during Arrest Operation

Abed el-Majed Duddin, was the head of the military wing of the Hamas terror
organization in the village of Durah and in the Mount Hebron area. He was
directly involved in the planning and execution of terror attacks since 1995
and specifically the murder of 10 Israeli civilians in suicide bombings in
1995. Duddin was killed last night during a joint IDF and Israeli Police
arrest operation in the village of Dir El Assal A-Tahta, south east of
Hebron. Duddin was 45 years old.

During the operation, the forces surrounded a residence Duddin was using as
a hideout, and called on him to exit it. When he failed to do so, the forces
attempted to force him out of the house, at which point Duddin opened fire
at them. The forces responded by firing back and killed him. In addition,
the forces arrested Duddin's assistant, Ahmad A'a Fatah Khasin, 45 years
old.

Duddin was first added to the wanted list in 1995, when he recruited and
directed the suicide bomber Suffiane Sabih. Sabiah murdered four Israeli
civilians and wounded over a hundred when he detonated himself on a bus
operating near a school in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Jerusalem on
August 21, 1995. Earlier in the year, on July 24th, Duddin was responsible
for the execution of a suicide bombing on a bus in the Israeli city of
Ramat-Gan in which six Israeli civilians were killed and 31 and wounded.

A few days after the suicide bombing in Ramat Eshkol, Jerusalem, Palestinian
Security forces arrested Duddin, and he was imprisoned in Jericho. He was
released in September 2000 with the outbreak of the second Intifadah and
immediately returned to work for Hamas' military arm, becoming a senior
commander in the terror organization.

Since his release from prison, Duddin continued to make enormous efforts to
launch terror attacks and kill Israeli civilians. He, along with a number of
other terror operatives, formed the core of Hamas' terrorist activity in
Judea and Samaria and specifically in the Mount Hebron area. He directed a
heavily armed terrorist cell, which was uncovered by Israeli Security Forces
in 2004, that was planning to launch a terror attack on a train traveling
between Tel-Aviv and Beer-Sheva. Duddin was also responsible for recruiting,
training and arming Hamas terror operatives, launching gunfire attacks
against Israeli vehicles and planning terror attacks in the Lachish and
Hebron Mount regions. Among the senior terrorists who worked with Duddin,
were Yakhih Ayash, Mohi A-Din Sharif, Ibrahim Hamed and Saleh Talakhme. Many
of those working with Duddin were arrested and imprisoned over the years,
while he was able to hide in various locations and evade arrest until this
morning.

Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen Noam Tibon praised
the operation and said: "We will reach all terrorists who killed Israeli
civilians. We will continue to fight and defend the citizens of Israel". OC
Central Command, Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni also praised the operation as a
successful component in the continuing battle against terrorism.