How Israeli Intelligence Weaponized Trust To Kill "The Engineer" in 1996

On January 5, 1996, Yahya Ayyash—Hamas's most dangerous bomb maker—answered a phone call from his father and died instantly when Israeli intelligence detonated a tiny explosive charge hidden inside the handset. This intelligence operation revolutionized modern assassination and changed targeted killing forever.

Yahya Ayyash, known as "The Engineer," designed the suicide bomb vests and explosive devices that killed dozens of Israeli civilians in the 1990s. His operational security was legendary—he never slept in the same location twice, avoided all electronic communication, and remained invisible to Israeli surveillance for years. But Shin Bet discovered a vulnerability: trust.
This documentary reveals the true story of how Israeli intelligence weaponized a consumer phone, cultivated a family collaborator for a million-dollar payoff, and executed a surgical assassination that left the walls standing but changed Middle East politics forever. The operation triggered massive Hamas retaliation, influenced Israeli elections, and became the template for precision drone strikes and cyber-physical attacks used today.
From the technical specifications of the shaped-charge explosive to the psychological manipulation that kept Ayyash on the line, this is the complete story of the assassination that proved no one is unreachable—and turned every ordinary object into a potential weapon.

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DISCLAIMER
This documentary contains descriptions of violence, assassination methods, and politically sensitive content related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All information is compiled from publicly available intelligence assessments, declassified reports, investigative journalism, and historical records. This content is produced for educational and historical documentary purposes, examining intelligence operations and their consequences without endorsing any political position.