The abduction and killing of Nissim Toledano began on 13 December 1992, when a squad of

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

abducted Israeli border policeman Senior Sergeant Nissim Toledano in Lod. Although the captors demanded the release of Hamas leader Sheikh

Ahmed Yassin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin ( ar, الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين; 1 January 1937 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, a militant Islamist and Palestinian nationalist organiz ...

for Toledano, Toledano was killed by his captors.

Background

In 1987, during the

First Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word ''intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning "uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sustained series of Palestinian ...

carried out its first attack against Israel in which two Israeli soldiers were abducted and killed. The

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

immediately arrested the founder of

Sheikh

, and sentenced him to life in prison for masterminding terrorist attacks.

then began planning the capture of an Israeli soldier in order to seek the release of Yassin in a swap.

Capture and killing

At about 4:30 am, 13 December 1992, a squad of Hamas militants kidnapped 29-year-old Israeli border policeman Senior Sergeant Nissim Toledano in Lod, as he walked from his home to attend his administrative job. During the same day Hamas demanded that Sheikh

be released the same day until 9:00 pm in exchange for Toledano. Toledano's captors threatened to kill Toledano unless Yasin would be freed. Israel refused to negotiate until it received evidence that Toledano was alive and well. Two days later, on 15 December 1992, Toledano's body was discovered near the communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank

Kfar Adumim Kfar Adumim ( he, כְּפַר אֲדֻמִּים. ''lit.'' Village of The Red) is a mixed religious-secular Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is located in the Judean Desert, on the southern bank of Wadi Qelt, about 2 miles northeast of t ...

. Toledano's body was found bound and stabbed. Pathological findings indicated that Toledano was murdered two-to-six hours after the ultimatum expired. In addition, the findings indicated that the strangulation and stab wounds were not carried out at the site at which Toledano's body was discovered.

Israel's response

A few months after the event, the IDF arrested Toledano's kidnappers and killers. They were Mahmoud Issa, Majid Abu Qatish, Mahmoud Atwan, and Musa al-Akari. They were tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mahmoud Issa was held in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

and for ten years between 2002 and 2012. By the time he was taken out of solitary confinement he had spent more time in solitary confinement and had been refused family visits longer than any other Palestinian prisoner. In response to the killing, Israel arrested about 1,200 Palestinian fundamentalists, mostly Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, including 22 members of the Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades, during a huge manhunt operation in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. In order to deepen the damage to Hamas' infrastructure and to its members, Israel decided, in an unprecedented step, to expel hundreds of Palestinian militants to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

for a period of two years. To this end, on 17 December 1992, Israel expelled 415 leading figures of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to Marj al-Zohour in

southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distric ...

, beyond the Israeli Security Zone. Among the more prominent deportees were

Mahmoud al-Zahar Mahmoud al-Zahar ( ar, محمود الزهار ') (born 6 May 1945) is a Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. Al-Zahar served as foreign minister in the Hamas-dominated Pa ...

, Abd al-Aziz Rantisi,

Ismail Haniyeh Ismail Abdel Salam Ahmed Haniyeh; sometimes transliterated as Haniya, Haniyah, or Hanieh (born 29 January 1962) is a senior political leader of Hamas and formerly one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Haniy ...

Said Siam Said Seyam ( ar, سعيد صيام; 22 July 1959 – 15 January 2009), first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became o ...

Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil Izz El-Deen Sobhi Sheikh Khalil (alternately Ezzeddine) ( ar, عز الدين الشيخ خليل) (''circa'' 1962/1964 – September 26, 2004) was a senior member of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas when he was ki ...

, Abbedallah Qawasameh,

Aziz Duwaik Aziz Dweik ( ; ar, عزيز دويك ) (born January 12, 1948) is the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) since his election to that post on 18 January 2006. Dweik, as speaker of the PLC, is recognized by many Palestinians inclu ...

, and

Nayef Rajoub Nayef Rajoub ( ar, نايف الرجوب, born 1958) was the Religious Affairs Minister of Palestine in the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority cabinet and beekeeper. He has been arrested five times by Israel and once by his brother Jibril Rajoub i ...

. The planned deportation gained wide media coverage, which led the Lebanese authorities to prepare in advance for the event. They prevented the deportees from entering the country, thereby forcing the deportees to stay in a desolate buffer strip between the nearest Lebanese and Israeli army checkpoints. The deportees set up a tent camp from which they received wide international media attention and coverage. In February 1993, Israel shortened the deportees' period of expulsion to one year only. Most of the deportees returned to the

and the

after the period of expulsion ended.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toledano, Nissim 1990s missing person cases Deaths by person in Asia Formerly missing people Israeli military casualties Israeli prisoners of war Israeli soldiers People of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Background

Capture and killing

Israel's response

See also

References