Israel dismisses suggestions it killed Palestinian in Malaysia

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Israel's defence minister said on Sunday a Palestinian scientist shot dead in Malaysia was a rocket expert and "no saint", but dismissed suggestions that Israel's spy agency assassinated him.

Two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at Fadi al-Batsh, an engineering lecturer, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, killing him on the spot, the city's police chief Mazlan Lazim said.

Hamas said one of its members had been assassinated in Malaysia. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mossad had been behind past attempts to kill Palestinian scientists, and the attack on Batsh "follows this sequence."

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that Batsh was killed as part of an internal Palestinian dispute.

"The man was no saint and he didn't deal with improving infrastructure in Gaza－he was involved in improving rockets' accuracy... We constantly see a settling of accounts between various factions in the terrorist organizations and I suppose that is what happened in this case."

Relatives of a Palestinian electrical engineer Fadi al-Batash, who was shot to death in Malaysia, mourn outside his family house in the northern Gaza Strip, April 21, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the suspects in the killing, who fled the scene, were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency.

He added that Batsh was active in pro-Palestinian non-governmental organizations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.

Batsh was a lecturer at University Kuala Lumpur, specializing in power engineering.

In recent weeks, tensions have been running high at the Gaza-Israel border as Palestinians have ramped up protests demanding the right to return to homes that are now in Israel.

Source(s): Reuters