A SUSPECT has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Palestinian academic in Malaysia in 2018, said the Hamas-run Interior Ministry yesterday, as reported by Anadolu Agency.

Fadi al-Batsh, a research engineer said to be linked to Hamas, was gunned down by two gunmen near his home in Kuala Lumpur in April 2018. The gunmen fled the scene.

His family has accused Israeli spy agency Mossad of having carried out the assassination, but then Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman denied the state’s involvement in the killing.

Interior Ministry spokesman Iyad al-Buzom told a press conference in Gaza City that the suspect confessed that he was recruited by Mossad.

Israeli media described al-Batsh as “a Hamas engineer and an expert in drone-making”, hinting at the possibility that the Mossad played a role in his death.

Israel is widely believed to have killed numerous Palestinian activists in the past, of whom many were overseas.

Mossad agents tried but failed to kill Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal by spraying poison into his ear in Jordan in 1997.

Mossad is also believed to have been behind the assassination of top Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh in a hotel in Dubai in 2010.

Israel has never confirmed or denied its involvement in Mabhuh’s murder. – Bernama, January 10, 2022.