Gaza power plant engineer Dirar Abu Sisi,
who according to foreign media reports was taken into custody from the Ukraine in March and brought to
Israel, provided a rare in depth look at Hamas attempts to develop
longer-range rockets aimed at Israeli civilians and efforts to improve
its military capabilities following Operation Cast Lead.
The
Beersheba Magistrate's Court released sections of the investigation by
security forces of Abu Sisi for publication on Thursday.
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According to a report by Channel 10, during
questioning, Abu Sisi described Hamas as a hierarchical organization that seeks
to learn from mistakes and to constantly improve its attack capabilities against
Israel.
He reportedly confessed to carrying out rocket experiments,
during which projectiles were fired into the Mediterranean Sea from Khan
Yunis.
“The rocket fell [into the water] 22 km. away, though it was
supposed to reach 30 km.,” he said during questioning.
During the time of
the experiments, Hamas was lacking material required to extend the range of the
rockets. The material was later acquired through smuggling tunnels linking Sinai
to Gaza.
According to the report, Abu Sisi expressed regret for his work
on behalf of Hamas, saying: “I’m very sorry for belonging to the Muslim Brothers
and Hamas, and for my activities in extending the range of rockets and setting
up Hamas military operations.”
Abu Sisi also said he regretted all the
information he gave to Hamas that now threatens the security of Israeli
civilians, the report said.
Abu Sisi said that following Operation Cast
Lead, when Hamas gunmen abandoned their positions in the face of advancing IDF
troops, Ahmed Jabari, who heads Hamas’s military wing, Izzadin Kassam, and
senior Hamas member Muhammad Def concluded that the organization had failed
during the conflict, and appointed Abu Sisi to help set up a military
academy.
Abu Sisi said he had been ordered to head the administration of
the academy.
“I prepared the management side of things for the new
military academy,” he said.
Hamas carried out an evaluation of its own
performance and found that its decision-making processes had failed and that
weapons had not been used correctly during battles, Abu Sisi said. It also found
failures at the command and management levels.
He said under
interrogation that he had received veiled death threats from top Hamas officials
when he expressed a desire to leave the organization.