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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s advisory council in Jerusalem and acted in their capacity to raise Hamas\u2019s profile among the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s preparations for elections in the West Bank. This activity was considered part of Hamas\u2019s efforts to establish political and military influence in the area.<\/p>\n