Hamas fighter sentenced over suicide bombings

An Israeli military court on Sunday sentenced a former military leader of Hamas to multiple life sentences after convicting him of ordering the killing of dozens of Israelis, the army said.

"The Ofer military court sentenced Ibrahim Hamed to 54 life sentences," a statement said, referring to an Israeli court and prison complex located in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

"Hamed, who was the head of the military wing of Hamas in the West Bank, was convicted last week of responsibility for a long list of suicide attacks which brought about the deaths of 46 Israelis and the wounding of more than 400 Israelis," the army statement said.

Hamed was arrested in 2006 after being aided by Mosab Yussef, the son of a Hamas founder who became an undercover agent for Israel's Shin Bet security agency, Israeli media said.

Haaretz newspaper said Hamed was behind suicide bombing attacks in a Jerusalem cafe, a crowded city square and the Hebrew University, among many others.

Hamas had unsuccessfully sought Hamed's release in a prisoner swap last October in which captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was traded for more than 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Hamas, the democratically elected rulers in Gaza, continues to advocate armed resistance to the Israeli occupation and suppression of the Palestinian people.

(Al-Akhbar, AFP)