The Hamas commander who kept his profile low

Even Nour el-Deen Baraka's neighbors did not know what he was really doing. He has completed his master's degree in Comparative Law Sharia law only this year after a period of intense study and memorization of the Qur'an. The group of men in uniform who accompanied him generally could have given his neighbors a clue to his other, more valuable role.

Nour Baraka, 37, married with four children, was known for her low profile. He lived in the family home in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Yunis, not far from where Hamas leaders Muhammad Dahlan and Yahya Sinwar had been raised.

Nour Baraka

Nour Baraka was the commander of the Khan Yunis brigade of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and was also appointed Tunnel Manager for Khan Yunis.

But the most famous of the Baraka family is actually his brother, Dr. Suleiman Baraka, scientist and astronomer of space, who studied in Egypt and Lebanon, settled in the United States to He completed his PhD, worked for NASA and won prestigious awards in Paris. and Washington. In 2008, after the death of his 11-year-old son in an Israeli operation in Gaza, Dr. Baraka stopped working and returned to Gaza.

Recently, Suleiman gave a speech at a Palestinian TED event and was applauded by the Gaza audience as he was telling his life in the Arab world. He recounted how in Syria he was suspected of being a Palestinian spy, that he was certain he was a Zionist spy in Lebanon after seeing an Israeli stamp on his passport, that he had failed to reach Australia and that he had almost settled down. despair in Libya. "But in the end, like my brother Nour, I belong to the brigades Izz ad-Din al-Qassam," he said.

Nour Baraka's mother (Photo: AFP)

On the day of the incident, Nour returned from a "work trip" in northern Khan Yunis and entered his home. According to reports in Gaza, he identified "something suspicious" when he saw a Volkswagen window. He questioned the Israeli passengers, was not satisfied with their answers, then the weapons were fired and the shooting started.

According to reports on social media and media outlets in Gaza, two Volkswagen Israelis dressed in women's clothing opened fire on Nour Baraka.

Al-Jazeera TV correspondent Wa 'il Dahdouh broadcasts footage of what was left of the Volkswagen used by the Israelis before they fled. "It goes far beyond killing or capturing a Palestinian, the Israelis have planned something much more important here and have not succeeded," he said.