Hamas ducks and dives, even over the suspicious death of one of its own, Ayman Taha

Ayman Taha taken to his grave

The son of co-founding member of  Hamas, Mohammed Taha, who was also one of its most prominent leaders, has been slain in Gaza – but their are two versions for his death.

Ayman Taha, one of the leading lights of the Hamas mafia was thrown from a car on Thursday (7 Aug ’14) outside the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City by an unidentified paramilitary group, ergo Hamas operatives. Both patients and medical staff in the hospital were too scared  to retrieve the body, which lay there for an hour or more until another squad of paramilitaries arrived and took it away.

Later that evening Taha’s body was left at the Shifa Hospital by officials from Hamas, who have since accused Israel of Taha’s execution. Following soon after the report of the execution by Palestinian journalists, Hamas released a statement mourning “the death of the former spokesman [for Hamas] Ayman Taha, from wounds sustained a few days ago […] during an Israeli air strike on an apartment in Gaza city, during which he sustained serious injuries, dying on impact”.

However, Palestinian journalists claim that he “died as a result of  multiple bullet wounds to the head and chest because he spied for the Egyptian security services and had been involved massive financial corruption that had seen his wealth grow without any justifiable reason. A veteran reporter also ventured that “The man knew too much about the senior leaders of Hamas and the wealth they have accrued.”

This news exposes two factors. The first is that statements by Hamas cannot be trusted in any event. Once again they seek to ascribe blame to the Israeli attacks rather than admit that they had carried out an extra-judicial execution. The attempt to blame Israel shows that Hamas is attempting to distance itself to try and prevent reprisals by his influential family, who had previously denounced the arrest as political and demanded his release.

It throws into question the honesty and integrity of Hamas, which appears to be operating more and more like a Mafia mob than a government.