Hamas spokesman Talal Nasser told the UAE newspaper The National that Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a Hamas commander killed in Dubai on the January 20, had "played a key role in supplying the Palestinian people with weapons and money," including "special weapons" for his native Gaza, where Israel waged war a year ago.
A source close to Hamas in Gaza told Reuters: "I believe the issue of weapons he used to provide Hamas and (Palestinian) resistance factions was the reason behind his being targeted."
Israel's government declined official comment on the death of Al-Mabhouh, however Israeli security sources linked him to rockets and other arms that reach Gaza from Iran, Reuters reported.
One Israeli security source said on Sunday Mabhouh had been "key" to Hamas efforts to smuggle rockets and other arms into his native Gaza Strip, ruled by the Palestinian Islamist faction and whose borders with Israel and Egypt are under blockade.
"He was a strategic asset for Hamas when it came to its armament by Iran," the source said. Israel accuses Iran of supplying weapons to Hamas by sea and land routes such as Sudan and Egypt. Iran calls its support for Hamas diplomatic only.
Hamas officials have declined to say what Mabhouh, who had long lived in the Syrian capital Damascus, was doing in the Gulf or what his role was. They called him a senior military figure and one Hamas source said he was working right up to his death.
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