Israel charges 3 Hamas members captured in Gaza
One of the trio is accused of training in Malaysia on how to fly a paraglider intended for attack inside Israel
By Stuart Winer	24 August 2014, 4:29 pm 4 Edit
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Palestinian masked supporters of the Islamist Hamas movement take part in a demonstration in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip in August 2014. (photo credit: AFP/SAID KHATIB)
Israeli prosecutors filed indictments against three Hamas members captured in Gaza and accused of planning attacks, including one who intended to cross into the country using a paraglider.
The indictments were filed in Beersheba District Court against Mahmad Kadra, 28, from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, along with Mahmad Abu Draz, 23, and Mahmad Abu Tir, 36, both from Gaza City.
All three are members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, according to the indictment filed by the Southern District Attorney's Office.
The men were captured by the IDF in Gaza battles during Operation Protective Edge.
According to the indictment, the defendants underwent prohibited military training and took part in various military activities including tunnel digging into Israel in order to carry out attacks.
The men were charged with being members of a banned organization, undergoing forbidden military training, various firearms offenses and attempted murder.
Kadara allegedly traveled to Malaysia in 2010 where he learned how to fly a paraglider with the intention of carrying out a terror attack by flying across the border from Gaza. Malaysia denied that they allowed Hamas operatives to train in their country.
Behind the plan was Raed Al-Attar, who was in charge of Hamas military operations in Rafah and who met with Kadara on his return from Malaysia, according to the indictment.
Last week Al-Attar was killed in an airstrike along with Hamas head of southern command Muhammad Abu Shamala, and senior weapons smuggler Muhammad Barhum.
Along with halting terrorist rocket fire at Israel from Gaza, the IDF's Operation Protective Edge has aimed to destroy a network of tunnels dug under the border by Hamas and used to infiltrate Israel. Eleven IDF solders were killed in ambushes carried out by operatives who emerged from tunnels under the border.
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
Beersheba District Court