Imad Abbas was a senior member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...

, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

, until his assassination by the Israeli Defense Forces on October 21, 2004, in Gaza City.

Abbas joined the ranks of Hamas in 1991, when he was 17 years old. That year, he participated in an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers near the Karni

Karni

Karni may refer to one of the following:* Karni crossing, a border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip* A carnival, as run by the University of Nottingham Students' Union...

 crossing in the Gaza strip

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

, and so joined Israel's list of wanted members of Hamas. As a fugitive, he worked with one of the leaders of the brigades, Imad Aqel, before successfully escaping to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 in a boat. Abbas was arrested by the Egyptian authorities but soon released, and he spent the next four years travelling in various Arab countries. In 1996, he came back in the Gaza Strip where he continued to work with other militants. At the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada

Al-Aqsa Intifada

The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...

, Abbas became the assistant of Adnan al-Ghoul

Adnan al-Ghoul

Adnan Al-Ghoul was the assistant of Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. He was eliminated in a targeted killing along with Imad Abbas when an Israeli Air Force Apache helicopter fired missiles at their car in Gaza on October 21, 2004...

, a leader of the brigades and a bombmaker.

Living in hiding and never appearing in public, Abbas was killed along with al-Ghoul on October 21, 2004, when an Israeli Apache

AH-64 Apache

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...

helicopter fired missiles at the car in which they were travelling.