Commander in Al-Qassam Brigades,

Sharya college graduate 

In 1997, Ibrahim Bani Odeh, then a commander of a number of Qassam cells in the West Bank, was taking apart an old mortar shell. There was much rust around the outer casing, and Ibrahim applied pressure on the shell, which exploded and filled the room with dust. Knowing that the shell killed at a radius of 15 meters, Ibrahim was shocked that he got up without a scar. And none of the neighbors noticed or heard the sound of the explosion. Afterwards, one of his sayings was, “Allah has prolonged my life in order to continue the jihad.”

Ibrahim was married and had 4 children, and was known as “Abu Ho’thaifa.” He was born in 1967 in Kuwait. After the second gulf war, he went to Jordan and studied Shariya. In 1995, he came to Palestine and joined Al-Qassam brigades after being serving in the Jordanian army as a First Lieutenant.

Abu Ho’thaifa was an explosives expert and supplied Al-Qassam cells with explosives, and ready to use explosive devices, as well as intelligence and information. He moved freely all over Palestine, gathering information and planning for resistance operations.

Abu Ho’thaifa operated under the cover name of “Raed,” meaning pioneer. He pioneered many untold techniques utilized by Al-Qassam brigades in covert operations that remain unannounced. Also, he pioneered methods of making it difficult for the Zionist occupation forces to identity martyrs.

In August 1998, the Palestinian Authority arrested Ibrahim and found explosives and devices that were unprecedented in Palestinian resistance preparation. He was subjected to torture and harsh interrogation. The Zionist occupation forces closed Abu Ho’thaifa’s village (Tammoun) for a month and prevented anyone from the village from traveling abroad. All Ibrahim’s relatives were subjected to interrogation at the hands of Zionist intelligence officers.

Ibrahim did not mind his personal loss, but was sad that he was prevented from supplying his cells with the means of jihad.

On 23 November 2000, Ibrahim was assassinated by an explosive device placed in his cousin’s car. Ibrahim’s cousin was recruited by the Zionist intelligence officers to commit the crime.

However, Abu Ho’thaifa planted the seeds that blossomed in throughout “Al-Aqsa” Intifada. He worked tirelessly from 1995-1998 to prepare the ground for coming battle. He was working at a time in which people were ignorant and unsuspecting of the next battle. And his efforts didn’t go in vain.