Militants in the Gaza Strip accused Israel of murdering a Palestinian engineer based in Malaysia who was shot dead by unknown motorcycle assailants. The victim was identified as Dr. Fadi M. al-Batsh, 35, from the city of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave controlled by the militant group Hamas. Al-Batsh is believed to have completed his undergraduate studies and master's degree in electronic engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza. In 2011 he enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, where he earned his doctorate in electronic engineering. He was later hired as a lecturer by the British Institute of Malaysia at the University of Kuala Lumpur. The Institute is located in the Jalan Gombak neighborhood of the Malaysian capital, where al-Batsh lived with his wife and three children. Reports from Israel said al-Batsh would be working on drone technology and that he wrote scientific articles on the development of drone technology as well as the technical specifications of transmitters used to remotely control drones.
Local reports said al-Batsh was shot dead at around 6:00 am Saturday morning as he was walking from his home to a nearby mosque to pray early in the morning. Images taken by nearby security cameras show that al-Batsh was shot by two men riding a large 1100cc motorcycle, which had been waiting for it to arrive at the scene for at least 20 minutes before opening fire. Malaysian police said the Palestinian man died immediately having suffered 14 bullet wounds in the chest and head. A subsequent report from local police authorities reported that the incident is a "targeted murder", not a terrorist attack, because the killers seemed to focus solely on al-Batsh while ignoring several other people who were present.
Shortly after al-Batsh's killing, some reports identify him as a relative of Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A subsequent statement published by Hamas-affiliated media said that al-Batsh was a commander in the brigades of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the Hamas military wing. The militant group described him as a "faithful member" and called him a "shahid" (martyr), who was "murdered at the hands of treason". The Gaza-based group has also pledged retaliation against Israel and the Mossad intelligence agency.
Malaysian authorities said on Sunday that they did not rule out anything, including the possibility that al-Batsh may have been killed by militants belonging to the Islamic State. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the possible involvement of "foreign agents" in al-Batsh's murder has also been investigated. He added that the two main suspects were "white, European-looking" men. On Monday, the Malaysian police released the identikits of the two suspects, based on eyewitness accounts. An accompanying press release said the two suspects were "about 1,80 meters tall, robust, with fair complexion, and believed to be of Middle Eastern or Western origin."