Ibrahim Al-Maqadmeh was described by the occupation as “nuclear Hamas,” and he is one of the most prominent thinkers of the Palestinian people (social networking sites)

A Palestinian resistance fighter and activist, he is considered one of the most famous figures of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Palestine, and one of the most important pillars of its military apparatus. He was a member of the movement’s political bureau and one of its most important thinkers.

During his years of detention in the Israeli Negev prison, he founded "Youssef University", where he developed academic curricula and educational programs for prisoners inside the prisons. He was martyred on March 8, 2003, when occupation warplanes targeted his car in Gaza City.

Birth and upbringing

Ibrahim Al-Maqadma, whose nickname was “Abu Ahmed,” was born on May 14, 1950, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

His family immigrated to Gaza City from the town of Beit Darras in 1948 due to Israeli attacks, then he moved to live in the Bureij camp in the center of the Strip.

He married and had 7 children.

Study and training

Al-Maqadma received his basic education in the schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia Camp. He was one of the outstanding students, as he obtained a high grade in high school, which enabled him in 1968 to join the Faculty of Dentistry at one of the Egyptian universities, where he became acquainted with the group The Muslim Brotherhood, and he joined it during his student years before he graduated as a dentist.

Struggle experience

Al-Maqadmeh returned to Gaza, worked as a dentist in Al-Shifa Hospital after graduating from Egypt, participated in courses in radiological imaging, and became a radiologist.

Thanks to his discipline and enthusiasm for the Palestinian cause and his involvement in militant field work, he became one of those close to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, one of the founders of the Hamas movement.

Al-Maqadma is credited with forming the first nucleus of the military apparatus in the Gaza Strip - which was called “Majd” - in coordination with a number of the movement’s leaders, and he was entrusted with the responsibility of supplying the resistance with weapons and ammunition.

His militant activities and work within the ranks of the resistance made him subject to persecution and harassment by the occupation authorities, who demolished his family’s home in the Jabalia camp in 1971.

He was arrested for the first time in 1984 on charges of obtaining weapons and establishing a military apparatus in Gaza. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison, which he spent moving between various occupation prisons. Then he was rearrested again to spend a total of 10 years in cells.

In late 1992, the Israeli authorities deported a large number of Hamas leaders to the municipality of Marj al-Zuhur in southern Lebanon. At that time, Al-Maqadmeh had finished his sentence in the occupation prisons, so he assumed command of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the military apparatus of the Hamas movement - at a stage that was considered very difficult, but he managed To achieve qualitative development in the performance of the brigades and diversify their operations.

The martyr Ibrahim Al-Maqadma (left) with the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (social networking sites)

He was chosen by the Palestinian prisoners during his detention in the Negev prison to be responsible for all its departments, which he turned into workshops for creating resistance and freedom fighters. He founded “Joseph University,” defined advanced cultural programs for it, and formed committees to prepare courses, lesson topics, and lectures that he and his comrades held on a regular basis.

The university provided the Hamas movement with thousands of leaders and resistance fighters, and compensated for a large part of the vacuum that created inside the prison.

Al-Maqadma expressed his opposition to the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli occupation, as he believed that “resistance is the only path to independence and the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

His positions opposing the policies of the Palestinian Authority led to his arrest in 1996 by its security forces, and he was charged with establishing a secret military apparatus in Gaza. He was released in 1999 after 3 years of detention, followed by a decision to dismiss him from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which made him begin his work as a dentist in Islamic University of Gaza.

The occupation described him as "nuclear Hamas" after his imprisonment and release in 1999, and Israeli analysts considered him one of the most prominent thinkers of the Palestinian people, who chose resistance as the only option to confront the occupation.

Compositions

After the year 2000, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Maqadmeh devoted himself to political and advocacy efforts, giving lectures, theorizing about resistance thought, and writing poems and books for the cause of Palestine.

He wrote a number of studies and books, especially in the security field, including:

  • Milestones on the road to the liberation of Palestine.

  • Population conflict in Palestine.

  • A collection of poetry entitled "Don't Steal the Sun."

Dozens of his articles were also published in Palestinian newspapers.

Martyrdom

On March 8, 2003, the Israeli occupation forces fired 5 missiles from an Apache helicopter towards Al-Maqadmeh’s car, which was crossing Al-Labaidi Street in the center of Gaza City, which led to the death of him and three of his companions, and the wounding of a number of passers-by and school students.

Following his martyrdom, Gideon Ezra, who served as deputy head of the Israeli internal intelligence service (Shin Bet), stated that Ibrahim al-Maqadmeh is considered one of the most dangerous Palestinians to Israel’s security, and that he is not just a leader in a Palestinian organization, but rather an entire school of thought that fueled the Palestinians’ drive to continue fighting. Against Israel.

Honors

In memory of his memory and in honor of him, the first missile manufactured by the Al-Qassam Brigades was named after him, which was a long-range M75 missile, which was used during the “Shale Stones” battle in 2012.

During the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood (October 7, 2023), the Al-Qassam Brigades also revealed a new M-90 missile bearing the name of the martyr Al-Maqadmeh, which it bombed Tel Aviv in response to the Israeli massacres committed in Gaza.

Source: websites