How Mossad killed all the leaders of a terrorist group
In the late summer of 1971, a fierce storm was lashing the Mediterranean coast, and tall waves battered the shores of Gaza.
The local Arab fishermen prudently stayed ashore; this was not a day to brave the treacherous sea.
They watched with astonishment as a ramshackle boat suddenly emerged from the roaring waves and landed heavily on the wet sand.
A few Palestinians, their clothes and keffiyehs rumpled and soaked, jumped out and waded ashore.
Their unshaven faces showed the fatigue of a long journey at sea; but they had no time to rest, they were running for their lives.
From the angry seas, an Israeli torpedo boat emerged, pursuing them at full speed, carrying soldiers in full battle attire.
As it approached the shore, the soldiers jumped into the shallow waters and opened fire on the fleeing Palestinians.
A couple of Gazan youngsters, playing on the beach, ran toward the Palestinians and led them to the safety of a nearby orchard; the Israeli soldiers lost track of them but continued to search the beach.
Late that night, a young Palestinian man carrying a Kalashnikov snuck into the orchard to investigate.
He found the fugitives huddled together in a remote corner.
“Who are you, brothers?” he asked.
“Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” came the answer. “From the Tyre refugee camp, in Lebanon.”
“Marhaba, welcome,” the youth said. “You know of Abu-Seif, our commander? He sent us to meet with the Popular Front commanders in Beth Lahia (a terrorist stronghold in the south of the Gaza strip). We have money and weapons, and we want to coordinate our operations.”
“I’ll help you with that,” the young man said.
The following morning, several armed terrorists escorted the newcomers to an isolated house inside the Jabalia refugee camp. They were led into a large room and invited to sit at a table.
Soon after, the Popular Front commanders they hoped to meet walked in. They exchanged warm greetings with their Lebanese brothers, and sat, facing them.
“Can we start?” asked a stocky, balding young man wearing a red keffiyeh, apparently the leader of the Lebanese group.
“Is everybody here?”
“Everybody.”
The Lebanese raised his hand and looked at his watch.
It was a prearranged signal. Suddenly, the “Lebanese envoys” drew their handguns and opened fire. In less than a minute, the Beth Lahia terrorists were dead.
The “Lebanese” ran out of the house, made their way through the crooked alleys of the Jabalia camp and Gaza’s crowded streets and soon crossed into Israeli territory.
That evening, the man with the red keffiyeh, Captain Meir Dagan, commander of the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) secret Rimon commando unit, reported to General Ariel (Arik) Sharon that Operation Chameleon had been a success.
All the leaders of the Popular Front in Beth Lahia, a lethal terrorist group, had been killed.
From Michael Bar-Zoha's 'Mossad: The Great Operations of Israel's Secret Service'
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AKGPVNU