Seesi claimed that Israel kidnapped him because he was the "brain of the power system" and that he had rebuilt it himself after it was destroyed during Operation Cast Lead in 2009. The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post both reported that Abu Seesi had devised a technique enabling the plant to run solely on diesel fuel supplied by Egypt, thus enabling it to no longer be dependent on Israel for its sole source of fuel. The German weekly Der Spiegel indicated that Abu Seesi's abduction was owing to information he had in relation to missing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was being held by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a live interview with YouTube World View and Channel Two News, said that Abu Seesi is a Hamas man being held in Israel, and he disclosed valuable information. Israeli officials were insinuating earlier that Abu Seesi was involved in weaponry for Hamas. Israel held Abu Seesi in isolation, denying him family visits, under its security protocol. Trial On April 4, 2011, Abu Seesi was indicted in the Beersheba District Court, charged with "membership in a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit a crime, and the production of illegal weaponry, assistance to an illegal organization and other various crimes". According to the indictment, Abu Seesi was the central developer of the Qassam rocket, among other rockets and anti-tank missiles, was responsible for upgrading older rockets for Hamas and served as the commander of Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Military Academy. According to the indictment by Shin Bet, the Israel Security Agency, Abu Seesi was recruited into Hamas in 2002 by Sheikh Nizar Rayan. He was asked by Salah Shehade to work to develop weapons for Hamas. Working under Mohammed Deif, the supreme commander of Hamas' military wing, "Abu Sisi was responsible for electrical engineering and dealt mostly with developing boosters and fins that stabilized and enhanced rocket propulsion. These are two factors that are key for increasing a rocket's range and subsequent penetration of a target. In 2005, Abu Seesi was asked by the committee to begin working on increasing the range of rockets that were manufactured domestically in the Gaza Strip. In his work for Hamas, he was able to increase the range of the rockets from six to nine kilometers, and subsequently to 15 kilometers. In 2007, Abu Seesi assisted Hamas in increasing the range