ISRAEL: DEATH COMES CALLING

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YEHIA AYYASH WAS AN EXTRAORDINARILY CAREFUL MAN. He had to be, to endure three years in the No. 1 slot on Israeli security's most wanted list. Called "the Engineer" for his bombmaking expertise, Ayyash never allowed others to fix the time or place of an appointment. Only he determined his comings and goings.

The fugitive Islamist did, however, take phone calls. And that proved his undoing. Last week Ayyash, 29, was killed in a house in Beit Lahiya, in the Gaza Strip, by an explosion from the earpiece of a telephone he was holding. His demise ended one of the most intensive manhunts ever conducted by Israeli security--a search for the alleged mastermind of the suicide bombings that have threatened the fragile peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Officially, Israel declined to take responsibility for the killing. But a senior Israeli official confirmed to TIME that the

operation was carefully planned and was scheduled, then delayed, at least once, two days beforehand. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, concern rose that Islamic militants would take revenge not only on Israel but also on its partner in peacemaking, the Palestinian Authority headed by Yasser Arafat. An Islamic backlash could hamper the smooth running of the first Palestinian general elections, scheduled for Jan. 20.

The break in the Ayyash case, according to the senior official, came a month ago, when Israeli agents traced the number of the mobile telephone he was using. Because such phones emit radio signals, they were able to keep tabs on Ayyash's whereabouts. "From then on, he was in the cross hairs and it was just a matter of time," said the official. Next Ayyash's hunters created problems with his phone line. Through intermediaries, he sent the phone for repair to a Gaza shopkeeper, who forwarded it to an Israeli mobile-phone company, whereupon security officials intercepted it. They sent back a "temporary" loaner, whose earpiece was packed with a tiny but potent bomb. On the morning of Ayyash's death, they phoned him, confirmed his voice on the line and set off the explosives by remote control.

In April 1992, Israeli security first began seeking Ayyash, a native of the village of Rafat in the West Bank, on suspicion of his involvement in armed attacks by the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas. A year later, Palestinian guerrillas for the first time resorted to suicide attacks in the fight against Israel. An electrical-engineering graduate of the West Bank's Bir Zeit University, Ayyash allegedly built the device used in the initial blast, at a West Bank diner popular with Israeli soldiers. For the next three years, the tactic was used repeatedly, causing the deaths of 77 victims and the wounding of more than 300 others. Israeli authorities believe Ayyash personally built the bombs that killed 35 of them and trained another bombmaker whose work claimed 10 more victims. Israeli officials say the Engineer oversaw many logistics of the attacks--for example, deciding their time and location.