New details emerged Wednesday about the unusual operation in Gaza in which Mu’een al-Arabid, head of Hamas’s internal security apparatus, was captured.
According to a report in the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, an Israeli special force operated in the area for several days before the operation, monitoring activity on the ground before eventually entering a small villa in Gaza City’s Al-Katiba neighborhood, where al-Arabid was staying with members of his family.
According to the report, the villa where the senior Hamas official was staying is located in an upscale residential area similar in character to the Rimal neighborhood. The main headquarters of Hamas’s internal security apparatus is reportedly located just several hundred meters away.
Arab sources who spoke with the newspaper claimed that the Israeli force had been operating in the vicinity for at least two days beforehand and used a pickup truck and another vehicle used to transport vegetables to move around the area without arousing suspicion.
When the operation began, part of the force entered the villa while another team remained outside to secure the surrounding area.
An Arab source claimed that two of al-Arabid’s sons opened fire on the Israeli forces, who returned fire at close range. Both sons were wounded in the exchange, al-Arabid’s wife was killed, and al-Arabid himself was wounded before being taken from the scene.
At the same time as the ground operation, aircraft struck two vehicles in the area and dropped small bombs, apparently to prevent attempts to attack the Israeli force during its withdrawal.
Witnesses claimed that the forces left the area under air cover and later used several motorcycles to quickly move away from the scene.
Hamas is now attempting to determine how the Israeli force managed to reach the area and operate there. A Hamas source told the newspaper that an investigation into the operation remains underway, including through examination of the numerous security cameras installed throughout the area.
Hamas believes the security-camera footage could reveal additional details about the Israeli force’s movements in the days leading up to the operation, as well as how it entered and withdrew from the area.
The report also said this was not the first time al-Arabid had survived an Israeli operation targeting him. According to a Hamas source, he was lightly wounded in an explosion this past June and survived another assassination attempt during the war.
In March 2024, al-Arabid also managed to escape an IDF operation at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. He was there alongside other senior Hamas security officials but managed to leave the compound with dozens of other Palestinians before Israeli forces completed their encirclement of the hospital.
Al-Arabid has been considered a significant figure in Hamas’s internal security apparatus for years. According to sources in Hamas and other factions in the Gaza Strip, he was responsible for some of the terrorist organization’s most sensitive security matters.
Among other responsibilities, he was involved in combating suspected collaborators with Israel and pursuing operatives affiliated with jihadist organizations, including ISIS. As part of his role, he oversaw a series of operations to arrest suspects and operatives whom Hamas considered security threats.
Following the exposure of an Israeli special forces operation in the Gaza Strip in 2018, al-Arabid was involved in overseeing a wave of arrests in which dozens of people suspected of collaborating with Israel were detained.
During the current war, he was also involved in monitoring local militias and armed groups that emerged in the Gaza Strip and competed with Hamas for control of parts of the territory.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
