Irish minister: Assassins of Hamas leader were not Irish - Summary

Gaza - Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin on Thursday said that no Irish citizens were among the assassins of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month. Martin, paying his first ever visit to the blockaded impoverished enclave of the Gaza Strip, told a news conference at UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City "the assassins of al-Mabhouh were not Irish."

Al-Mabhouh, a senior commander in Hamas movement's armed wing, al- Qassam Brigades, was found dead in his room in a hotel in Dubai on January 20. Hamas accused the Israeli intelligence service Mossad for the killing.

"They are people who forged passports that belong to Irish citizens," Martin told reporters about the assassins. He said the investigation would "continue in this serious issue until the truth is revealed."

The Dubai inspectors found out that upwards of 26 people, apparently traveling with passports of various European countries and Australia, participated in killing the Hamas commander. Among the European passports were a number from Ireland.

"I don't think that there is one single Irish citizen is involved in the case," said Martin, who crossed into the Gaza Strip earlier on Thursday through Rafah crossing on the borders between the enclave and Egypt.

He told reporters that his visit was at a United Nations request to closely look at the situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a tight blockade by Israel for more than three years.

He added that he came to visit areas that were destroyed during the 22-day Israeli war on the Gaza Strip carried out in late 2008- early 2009, leaving around 1,440 people killed, most of them civilians.

"I visited two schools and I looked at the educational curriculum, mainly teaching human rights," Martin said, adding "I saw by my own eyes the suffering of the schoolchildren who study at classrooms made out of steel."

He added that the reason that schoolchildren study at steel containers instead of regular classrooms "is not allowing construction raw materials into the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli closure of the border crossings."

Martin revealed that his visit to the Gaza Strip had to go via Egypt after Israel officially informed him that he would not be permitted to enter through the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311305,irish-minister-assassins-of-hamas-leader-were-not-irish--summary.html.