Known for being the main manufacturer of explosives used in suicide attacks against Israel at the end of the last century, Yahya Ayyashknown as ‘Hamas engineer‘, was in the spotlight for years until they managed to put an end to it.
In 1996, through a so-called Gazan friend who was in reality allied with Israeli security, Ayyash managed to a cell phone that has been tampered with during a repair. An arrangement that, unbeknownst to him, had taken place in Tel Aviv and in which agents of the Shin Bet, the internal security service, took advantage of the opportunity to plant 50 grams of explosives.
When the phone comes back to him, Ayash calls his father and the secret services identify his voice. Then an Apache helicopter flies over the area detonates the explosive insidekilling him instantly and setting a precedent that would cause not only Hamas, but also Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, to change strategy.
Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah assures that The cell phone is a “murderous spy” which gives “detailed and precise information to the enemy and indicates the location of his commanders.” It is the fear of a tactic that has been around for over 30 years and that they have not been able to avoid with pagers or other communication devices.
