Salah Shehade Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade ( or Shehadeh ) ( 24 February 1953 Gaza – 22 July 2002 ) was a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas . He led the Izz ad - Din al - Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas , until his targeted killing by Israel . Activities . A member of Hamas since the formation of the group in 1987 , he quickly became one of its most influential leaders and was arrested a few times by Israel or the Palestinian Authority . After Yahya Ayash ' s death , in 1996 , Shahade became a top leader in the group , along with Mohammed Deif and Adnan al - Ghoul . During the Al - Aqsa Intifada , Israel accused him of masterminding several attacks against both Israeli soldiers and civilians in the Gaza strip and in Israel proper . He was given a twelve year prison sentence but released 14 May 2000 . It was also reported that Shahade was involved in the production of Qassam rockets , fired against Israeli civilian targets , and other homemade weapons , as well as in the smuggling of military equipment in the Gaza strip . He led the Izz ad - Din al - Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas during a period which saw a campaign of suicide attacks against Israeli civilian targets which caused the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians . As a leader of the Hamas military wing he oversaw Hamas field commanders in Gaza and the West Bank and defined the policy of terror attacks by Hamas . Killing . On 22 July 2002 , the Israeli Defense Forces targeted the house in which Shahade was hiding using a one ton bomb dropped by a F - 16 plane in a neighborhood of Gaza City . Fifteen people were killed , including Shahade , his wife and daughter ; seven members of the Matar family who lived in the next house . Between 50 and 150 were injured as a result of the attack . Both Shehade ' s and Matar ' s houses were destroyed by the bomb , as were eight others in the vicinity ; nine houses were partially destroyed , and 20 other houses moderately damaged . Israeli commanders claimed that they did not know there were innocent people in the building at the time and they would have called it off had they known . Reaction . The attack received widespread condemnation from other Middle Eastern nations , Western Europe , and the United States . Ariel Sharon initially praised it as " one of our greatest successes , " but later told " Yediot Ahronot " , " had I known the outcome , I would have postponed the assassination . " Fatalities . Fatalities of the attack are as follows : Legal responses . Human rights organizations around the world , including in Israel , severely criticized the attack , proclaiming that the intentional dropping of a one - ton bomb in the middle of the night on a dense civilian neighborhood is tantamount to a war crime . The Gush Shalom movement also threatened to turn the pilot over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague . Israeli Air Force Chief Dan Halutz , who was abroad during the bombing itself but was still accountable as IAF commander , gave an interview to " Haaretz " , published on 21 August 2002 . To his pilots he said : When asked whether the operation was morally wrong because of the toll on some civilians , Halutz answered that the planning included moral consideration and that a mistake or an accident did not make it such . When the reporter asked him about the feelings of a pilot and what he feels when he drops a bomb , Halutz answered : In the same interview Halutz denounced the left - wing groups who attacked the pilots and called to have them tried for " treason " : Following the assassination , the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet established a joint inquiry into the incident and submitted their findings to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben - Eliezer on 2 August 2002 . The inquiry concluded that the procedures and operational assessments followed in the operation were " correct and professional " , and that the operation resulted in the elimination of a " major terrorist leader " . However , the inquiry found shortcomings in the intelligence available and the analysis of intelligence concerning the presence of civilians near Shehade . The inquiry found that if the intelligence had indicated with certainty the presence of civilians in Shehade ' s vicinity , the timing or method of the action would have been changed , " as was done a number of times in the past . " In December 2005 , a class - action lawsuit was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights , naming former Shin Bet director Avraham Dichter , the military chief in charge of the operation , as the sole defendant . Referring in particular to the Shehade killing , the lawsuit alleges that Dichter " developed , implemented and escalated the practice of targeted killings . " Citing the killing of more than 300 Palestinian leaders and casualties among hundreds of bystanders , the suit claims that assassination is illegal under international law . In 2007 , the Israeli State Prosecutor ' s Office announced that an independent commission of inquiry into the death of the 14 innocent Palestinian civilians would be held following a petition by Yesh Gvul . Headed by Zvi Inbar , this commission began in February 2008 . Its findings were never officially released to the public , but news reports said it found " no premeditated intention to kill civilians , " reporting that commanders did not know there were innocent people in the building at the time , and that they would have called it off had they known . In January 2009 , the National Audience , a special and exceptional high court in Spain , began a war crimes probe into the attack that killed Shehade , with persons investigated including Mofaz , Dichter , Binyamin Ben - Eliezer , Moshe Ya ' alon , Doron Almog , Giora Eiland and Mike Herzog . A lower court decision ordered an inquiry into the Shehadeh killing . The Spanish Court of Appeals rejected the lower court ' s decision , and on appeal in April 2010 the Supreme Court of Spain upheld the Court of Appeals decision against conducting an official inquiry into the IDF ’ s targeted killing of Shehadeh in 2002 . Israeli MK Moshe Ya ' alon ( Chief of Staff at the time of the bombing ) cancelled a trip to the United Kingdom on 5 October 2009 , because he feared an arrest on war crimes charges relating to the 2002 killing .