Another Palestinian `hit'...and Israel takes top Islamic Jihad commander into custody.

Another top level Abbas loyalist was assasinated today. This time it was Nabil Hudhud, commander of the Fatah preventive security service in Gaza.

Hudhud was one of Abbas' few remaining allies in Gaza, along with DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources report Hudhud was driving along the coastal road when his car blew up. The dead man was one of Mahmoud Abbas’ most important allies in the Gaza Strip, along with Mohammed Dahlan. Obviously the hit on Hudhud was another chapter in the mafia-like war between Hamas and Fatah. The bombing followed an incident this morning in which three Hamas `soldiers' were kidnapped after morning prayers by Fatah and beaten, shot and left for dead outside a gas station in Khan Younis.

In Ramallah today, the IDF tracked down Islamic Jihad’s `Qalqilya commander', Muhammed Shoubaki. They surrounded his rathole and dragged him out while under attack by a group of Palestinian gunmen, aided by a mob of locals who hurled molotov cocktails at the Israelis.















Four of the Palestinian gunmen ended up being shot dead by the IDF and a number were wounded as the IDF shot its way out of Ramallah with Shoubaki in hand. One Israeli soldier was reported as `lightly injured'.

According to the Shin Bet, Shoubaki was planning a round of homicide bombings in Jerusalem and elsewhere.