Yaqub Mahmoud Abu Asab, 53, a senior Hamas operative from Jerusalem who has been sentenced over the years to multiple prison terms, serving more than 15 years in total, was released on Thursday from administrative detention and returned to walking the streets of the city.
Abu Asab, a resident of the Sawana neighborhood in the town of At-Tur in East Jerusalem, previously coordinated Hamas activity throughout the city in general and on the Temple Mount in particular. He established and managed a network of operatives that spread across all Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. He also served as a key figure overseeing the organization’s associations, which operated in the city under the guise of charity organizations, but in practice funded terror activities and paid Hamas operatives. Over the years, Abu Asab distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to operatives, funds received through couriers and money changers.
Movement Restrictions and Bans in Jerusalem
In addition to his prison sentences, Abu Asab was occasionally subjected to various restrictions by Israeli authorities, including movement bans, prohibition from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, prohibition from entering the Old City, and bans on leaving the country, including to the West Bank under Palestinian Authority control.
In 2013, the Jerusalem District Court convicted Yaqub Abu Asab, along with two others, of activity on behalf of the terrorist organization. The three served as heads of Hamas’s advisory council in Jerusalem and acted in their capacity to raise Hamas’s profile among the city’s Muslim residents. According to the indictment, as part of their work in the administrative committee, the defendants met to devise ideas for various activities among the population in the fields of education, welfare, and religious services in the city. The goal was to bring residents closer to the organization and its path, thereby strengthening its grip on the Jerusalem area.
Long Prison Terms and Smuggling Terror Funds
His longest continuous prison term was in the previous decade, when he served seven years, ending in 2018. By 2019, he had returned to prison after being convicted by the military court in Judea of smuggling terror funds from abroad. Part of the funds were used to finance Hamas’s preparations for elections in the West Bank. This activity was considered part of Hamas’s efforts to establish political and military influence in the area.
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During his prison terms, Abu Asab was counted among the leaders of Hamas prisoners. His words were highly valued among the inmates, and he served as a role model for them. His brother, Amjad, is also a terrorist operative — but a member of Fatah, active within the Prisoners’ Club, and serving as head of the Committee for Security Prisoners’ Families in Jerusalem
Abu Asab’s current administrative detention began on February 16, 2025. Police forces, under Shin Bet direction, arrested him at his workplace in the Talpiot neighborhood. He was taken for questioning at the district headquarters in the Russian Compound. At the end of the interrogation, an administrative detention order for three months was issued against him, later renewed for another three months. Now, as stated, he has been released and is back on the city’s streets — until next time
