On January 19th, 2010, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas military commander and founder of its Izz ad-Din al-Qassam military branch of the terrorist organization was drugged and suffocated in his hotel room just a few short hours after his arrival the Emirati city of Dubai. Initially, a Dubai police report blamed his assassination on a “professional criminal gang” that fled before the body was discovered only a day later.
Al-Mabhouh was personally responsible for arming Hamas with Iranian weapons, along with numerous terrorist attacks including the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers back in the 80s.
#Onthisday in 2010 Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, of Hamas's military wing, was assassinated in his Dubai hotel room by an Israeli hit squad.
— Bygone Bungo (@BygoneBungo) January 19, 2023
What’s that got to do with #Strathbungo ? pic.twitter.com/fBtXt9JH1x
In the official investigations, the Dubai security establishment would blame Mossad for the assassination, marking more than two dozen people traveling on forged British, Irish, Australian, French, and German passports as being involved in the killing. It is mentioned in the report that six of those passports were in the name of Israelis who hold dual citizenship.
It is worth noting that this assassination took place close to a decade before the Abraham Accords, in which the UAE normalized relations with Israel. However, some speculate that the UAE authorities were willing to cooperate with Mossad, the alleged killers, due to the smooth process in which the assumed planned operation took place.
As @Vikram_Sood Sir rightly points out, Intelligence Agencies should have long memories. The anatomy of MOSSAD'S Dubai operation targeting Hamas military & logistics commander Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh. A must watch video 🎥 @LevinaNeythiri @srdmk01 @Chkm8er @9_0_9_0_1 pic.twitter.com/jTk93RbwsG
— Shuvankar Biswas (@manamuntu) January 2, 2023
Israel rarely comments on any Mossad activity, let alone an alleged assassination. That being said, they are widely seen as responsible for Al-Mabhouh’s death. Even within Israeli media, Yedioth Ahronoth mentioned in their article regarding the case that “The Israeli government does not have to answer the question of whether Mossad agents were the ones who killed the Hamas man Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai."
The smiles of the government ministers when they left the weekly meeting on Sunday said it all. Indeed, one can feel satisfaction. The intelligence was reliable and accurate and the execution was flawless. Although Al-Mabhouh knew he was on the radar of Israeli intelligence and took strict precautions, the executors managed to reach him.
Nevertheless, the alleged Mossad agents who executed the mission were criticized by some within Israel for what they claimed was a sloppy job in covering up all the possible links connecting the operation to Israel.
Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's body was found Jan. 20 in his room at a luxury hotel near Dubai's international airport. https://t.co/m112CIJOtu
— Strategic Services (Intelligence and Security) (@StrategicServi3) January 16, 2023
While Al-Mabhouh had many enemies, including the entire Fatah terrorist organization which had been internally fighting with Hamas for years, and the Hashemite Kingdom where he was a wanted man; he was considered to be a particular target of the Israeli government.