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 ...

abducted Israeli border policeman Senior Sergeant Nissim Toledano in Lod. Although the captors demanded the release of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin for Toledano, Toledano was killed by his captors.

Background

In 1987, during the First Intifada,

carried out its first attack against Israel in which two Israeli soldiers were abducted and killed. The Israel Defense Forces immediately arrested the founder of

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, 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 Ahmed Yassin 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. 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 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 Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

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 distri ...

, 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. Hani ...

, Said Siam Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil, Abbedallah Qawasameh, Aziz Duwaik, and Nayef Rajoub. 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