Al Qassam Website - In times of complete darkness, selfishness, and deafness, there is always a spark of hope, a light coming from nowhere, and very few people would sacrifice whatever they possess for the sake of others and the sake of Allah. Ayyash was one of those men who dedicated their lives to helping people and defending occupied Palestine. 

Today marks the 27th anniversary of the assassination of Palestinian engineer Yahya Ayyash, after a bright history of outstanding work defending his land, people, and holy places.

Yahya Ayyash (1966-1996)

The eldest of three brothers, Ayyash was born on March 6th, 1966, in Rafat, southwest of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Ayyash was a practising Muslim, and he used to pray in mosques and attend the holy Qur'an memorisation sessions.

As a child, the Al-Qassam engineer was an intelligent student at all educational levels and gained the appreciation of his teachers. After passing high school exams with flying colours, he got accepted to Birzeit University in 1987, receiving a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. 

 
By 1992, Ayyash joined the ranks of the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, where he produced explosives from raw materials on hand in the Palestinian territories. 

Thanks to Ayyash, heroic self-martyrdom operations that responded to the Israeli occupation aggression against defenceless Palestinian civilians were of significant effect. 

The Israeli occupation forces had many tries to assassinate Yahya Ayyash but to no avail. In October 1995, Shin Bet operatives approached a Palestinian collaborator who had helped them assassinate the engineer. Shin Bet agents gave the collaborator a cell phone and told him it was bugged so they could listen in on Ayyash's conversations. They did not say to the collaborator that it contained 15 grams of RDX explosive in addition to eavesdropping devices.

Martyrdom

On January 5th, 1996, Ayyash's father called him, and he picked the phone up and talked with his father. When it was confirmed that the late commander was on the phone, the Shin Bet remotely detonated it, instantly killing Ayyash.

Following Ayyash's passing, four self-martyrdom operations were carried out in response, killing at least 87 Israeli occupying settlers in February and March 1996. The first of these was shortly after the end of the 40-day mourning period for Ayyash, and the cell that claimed responsibility for the attack called itself "Disciples of martyr Yahya Ayyash," reiterating it was a "revenge attack" for his assassination.