Qassam rockets are named after the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed branch of Hamas, itself named after an Islamic Mojahed Izz ad-Din al-Qassam who led a Palestinian group during the 1930s. According to Hamas, the Qassam rocket was first developed by Nidal Fat'hi Rabah Farahat and Mohamed Khaled and produced under the direction of Adnan al-Ghoul, the "Father of the Qassam", who died on October 22, 2004.
Qassams were first fired at Israeli civil areas in October 2001. The first Qassam to hit Israeli territory was launched on February 10, 2002. The first time an Israeli city was hit was on March 5, 2002, when two rockets struck Sderot. Some rockets have hit as far as the edge of Ashkelon. The total number of Qassam rockets launched exceeded 1,000 by June 9, 2006. During the year 2006 alone, more than 1,000 rockets were launched. In 2008, 1750 rockets were launched[2]. By the end of December, 2008 a total of 15 people had been killed by Qassam rockets since attacks began in 2001[3] (see: List of Qassam rocket attacks).
The introduction of the Qassam rocket took Israeli politicians and military experts by surprise,[4] and reactions have been mixed.[5] In 2006, the Israeli Ministry of Defense viewed the Qassams as "more a psychological than physical threat."[6
MORE ON THE HISTORY OF THE FOUNDER OF AL QASSAM ROCKETS:
Nidal Fat’hi Rabah Farahat (Arabic: نضال فتحي رباح فرحات) (April 8, 1971 - February 16, 2003) created the Qassam rocket, a homemade weapon produced by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Farahat, a devout Muslim, attended the Shijaha neighborhood mosque in Gaza City. During the First Intifada he took part in Hamas operations.
After the Intifada Farahat was arrested following the death of senior Hamas militant Imad Aqel, who was married to one of his sisters, killed while hiding in his house. After spending three years in Israeli detention, he returned to Gaza.
At the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, in 2000, Farahat officially joined the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and soon became an active member in the organization, planning and carrying out numerous operations including mortar attacks on Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip. In 2001, Farahat, after several months of work, produced the first prototype for the Qassam rocket and presented it to Ezzedeen-al-qassam brigades leaders Salah Shahade and Adnan al-Ghoul. Together with al-Ghoul, Farahat then worked on developing a better version of the Qassam, the "Qassam 2". Hamas militants used the Qassam 2 extensively after 2002 to attack nearby Israeli settlements and towns. Up to the beginning of 2005, the Qassam rockets were responsible for the death of 6 Israelis, all but one in the Israeli town of Sderot near the Gaza Strip, from which several hundreds of rockets were fired over a period of three years.
Farahat also worked as a bombmaker, supplying Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades militants with explosive devices and homemade rocket launchers like the Al-Bana and the Batar. He also worked, under the direction of Salama Hamad, on the conception of a drone that could fly over settlements and bomb them. On February 16, 2003, Farahat was working along with other militants around newly acquired parts of the drone when one of them, booby-trapped, exploded. The device killed Farahat and 5 other militants.
The youngest brother of Nidal Farahat, Mohammed, died on March 7, 2002, when he attacked a military academy in the Israeli settlement of Azmona, killing 5 young settlers. Farwad Farahat, another of his brothers, was killed in an IDF aistrike on his car south of Gaza City on his way to launch rockets at Israel in 2005. His three other brothers are alive, with one in prison since 1992 and the two others, Wessam Farahat and Momen Farahat still living in the Gaza Strip where they assume high-ranking functions in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The latter sustained serious injuries to a hand while fighting against Israeli soldiers during an incursion in Gaza City in 2003
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