Abduction and Killing of Nissim Toledano

By late 1992, Hamas had mounted a series of violent attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians over a compressed period. A U.S. Department of Justice page reproducing a federal indictment records eight terrorist actions for which Hamas members publicly claimed credit between September 18 and December 13, 1992, resulting in the deaths of numerous Israeli soldiers and civilians.[2] Toledano's abduction followed two other fatal assaults on Israeli soldiers within the preceding eight days, underscoring the accelerating pace of Hamas violence during the period.[3]

Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was then serving a life sentence in Israeli custody.[3] Hamas sought to use kidnappings as leverage for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Long War Journal and Ynet accounts identify a Hamas unit called Special Unit 101 as a formation established for that purpose, while Mahmoud Issa was later identified as the leader of the cell that abducted Toledano.[6][7]

In the early morning of December 13, 1992, a four-man Hamas cell abducted Nissim Toledano as he made his way to the Border Police headquarters in Lod.[3][8] Toledano was a 29-year-old Border Police sergeant major and the father of two young children.[1] Within hours, two masked men delivered a letter to the Red Cross building in Ramallah demanding Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's release and threatening to execute Toledano. A Hamas account later reproduced by the Jewish Virtual Library gives the deadline as 9 p.m. that evening.[8][9]

The cell was led by Mahmoud Issa, also identified as Mahmoud Moussa Issa.[6][10] Its other identified members included Mahmoud Attoun, Majed Abu Kteish and Mousa al-Akari.[1][11] The Israeli government refused the ultimatum. Israeli officer David Hacham later recounted that he visited Yassin in prison and persuaded him to make a public appeal asking the kidnappers to treat Toledano well and negotiate with Israel, but the appeal was not heeded.[12]

Security forces launched a large-scale operation, conducting house-to-house searches across the West Bank and arresting Hamas members.[8] Toledano was not found alive. His bound body was discovered in a wadi near Kfar Adumim; the Justice Department record dates the discovery to December 15 and places it on the Jerusalem–Jericho highway.[8][2]

The killing provoked nationwide public outrage.[3] Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin vowed that Hamas would not be permitted to derail the U.S.-led Madrid peace process, and Israeli authorities arrested approximately 1,129 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.[3][8]

On December 16, 1992, Rabin's cabinet approved the deportation of 415 Hamas activists.[13] The following night, Israel expelled 415 people — 251 from the West Bank and 164 from the Gaza Strip — to Marj al-Zuhur in southern Lebanon.[13] They were placed in a no-man's-land between Israeli and Lebanese army checkpoints, and the Red Cross established a tent camp for them that night.[5][8] Among the deportees were senior Hamas figures Mahmoud al-Zahar and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, both of whom later returned to Gaza and remained Hamas leaders for more than a decade.[14][15]

The mass deportation drew immediate international condemnation. On December 18, 1992, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 799, which strongly condemned the deportations, stated that they contravened Israel's obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and demanded the safe and immediate return of those deported.[4][5] The U.S. State Department also strongly condemned the deportation, and Arab delegations suspended bilateral talks in Washington in protest.[13]

The deportation was challenged in Israel's High Court of Justice. By a five-to-two vote, the court canceled temporary injunctions that had been issued against the deportations; on January 28, 1993, the High Court unanimously ruled that the deportations were legal.[8][13] The deportation term was subsequently reduced from two years to one, and most of the deportees eventually returned.[5]

Mahmoud Issa, the cell's leader, was arrested at his home in Anata in June 1993. Reports agree that he received three life terms but differ on the additional sentence: Long War Journal gives 40 years, while Ynetnews reports 49 years.[6][10] Mahmoud Attoun was arrested on June 3, 1993, at age 23 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.[1]

Mousa al-Akari was sentenced to three life terms. He was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and expelled to Turkey.[11] Majed Abu Kteish was likewise sentenced to life imprisonment, released in the Shalit exchange and deported to Turkey.[16]

The killing and the Israeli response had consequences extending beyond the immediate security situation. The concentration of Hamas operatives at Marj al-Zuhur created conditions for greater organizational cohesion. One deportee recalled: "Many of my brothers in the West Bank did not know our brothers from Gaza. In the camp, we came to know each other personally and could plan together for the years ahead."[3] Operatives from Gaza and Judea and Samaria forged personal relationships and coordinated plans that persisted after their return.[3]

The Toledano attack followed the earlier Hamas abductions and murders of Israeli soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon, forming part of the organization's early campaign against Israeli security personnel.[3] Long War Journal and Ynet identify Issa as the founder of Special Unit 101, whose stated purpose was to secure prisoner releases by kidnapping Israeli soldiers.[6][7] Cell members Mousa al-Akari and Majed Abu Kteish were later released and expelled to Turkey; a Jerusalem Center account identifies al-Akari as a Hamas operative working from Turkish soil.[11][16]

Accounts differ on several figures. The reported number arrested after the killing includes 1,129 in the Combating Terrorism Center and Ynet accounts and 1,200 in a later Ynet report.[3][7] An Encyclopedia.com entry gives 1,223, while a Hamas-sourced account reproduced by the Jewish Virtual Library claims more than 2,000 and should be treated as partisan.[17][9] Most sources give the deportation count as 415, although other accounts report 400 or 418.[14][17]

The Justice Department dates the discovery of Toledano's body to December 15, consistent with Ynet's account of two days of searching; Mako instead states that the body was found after five days.[2][16] A 2013 Ynetnews article also incorrectly dates the kidnapping and killing to June 1993, contradicting the December 13, 1992 date recorded by the Justice Department and numerous other sources.[18][2] Sources additionally differ over Special Unit 101: Long War Journal identifies Issa as its founder, whereas the Combating Terrorism Center names Mahmoud al-Mabhouh as its leader.[6][3]