The Israel Defense Forces over the weekend targeted and killed a Hamas commander who infiltrated the northwest Negev as part of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre, the military said on Sunday.
Abd al-Fattah Abu al-Eish, a Hamas Nukhba Force commander, was killed in an airstrike in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza on Saturday, according to the IDF.
Raed Adel Mohammed Alyan, an operative in Hamas’s “military wing,” was eliminated in the same strike, it said.
“Recently, the terrorists advanced terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians and operated to rehabilitate the capabilities of the terrorist organization, in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the statement said. “The strike was conducted in order to remove the threat posed.”
Precautions were taken to reduce harm to noncombatants, including the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance, the IDF added.
Also on Saturday, the IDF struck a Hamas commander in the Deir al-Balah area in the central Gaza Strip while he was hiding within the compound of Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital, the military said.
The terrorist recently advanced attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians and was targeted to remove the threat, the army said.
The Hamas operative was moreover involved in efforts to rehabilitate his organization’s capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire, the military continued.
The IDF criticized Hamas’s “cynical use of humanitarian infrastructure and its systematic embedding within medical facilities to advance and carry out terrorist activity.”
It relayed that a warning was conveyed to medical authorities throughout Gaza on Aug. 27 regarding the cessation of the use of medical facilities for terrorist purposes. “It was made clear that the IDF will act against any threat should such activity continue,” the military noted.
Steps were taken to mitigate the risk to civilians during the strike, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance, the IDF said.
On Friday, the IDF killed two Hamas terrorists in Gaza: Nukba Force company commander Hai Fakhri Mazloum and a sniper named Hassan Zidan Hassan Deiri, the military said.
Deiri and Mazloum were also involved in the trafficking and supply of weapons to Hamas terrorists, the IDF said.
Recently, the pair continued to advance attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians and operated to rehabilitate Hamas’s capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire, according to the military.
“Prior to the strikes, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” the army said, adding, “The strikes were conducted in order to remove the threat they posed.”
IDF eliminates Nukhba Force terrorists
Last week, the IDF and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) killed a Hamas Nukhba terrorist identified by the military as a bodyguard of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in a strike in the Khan Yunis area, the military announced on Thursday.
Razek Sahil Suleiman Abu Shahma took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, infiltration of the IDF’s Re’im base, according to the statement.
In a separate strike in Khan Yunis on Sunday, the IDF killed Hazem Mousa, another Hamas Nukhba terrorist who the military said also infiltrated the base during the massacre. The IDF and Shin Bet said both men had been planning attacks on Israeli troops and civilians and working to rebuild Hamas’s “military” capabilities, in violation of the ceasefire.
On Monday, the IDF also targeted two Hamas terrorists in central Gaza who it said participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, confirming that Nukhba Force member Mohammad Abu Asaad was killed in Deir al-Balah. The military said they too had been planning attacks and rebuilding Hamas’s capabilities.
Mladenov blames Israel, Hamas for breakdown in peace process
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Board of Peace’s public face blamed both Israel and Hamas for stalled peace efforts in Gaza, speaking in an appearance before the United Nations Security Council.
Nickolay Mladenov, the U.S.-backed board’s high representative for Gaza, told the council during a briefing on the Israeli-Palestinian file that “ceasefires that deliver nothing visible are not sustained by patience.
“They are only exhausted by it,” he said.
Mladenov said that Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups agreed to give up their arms and yield power to a new Palestinian governing authority, but he decried Hamas for not living up to its commitments to disarm, based on a “roadmap” to peace to which Israel and Hamas agreed, at least in principle.
“Every weapon carried, every tunnel still worked on and every convoy still obstructed, sets the process back,” Mladenov said. “It will be Palestinian civilians, women and children, who will bear the consequences.”
Jerusalem did not emerge unscathed. He denounced Israel for continued military action in Gaza and for failing to use the deconfliction mechanism in place to address imminent threats.
“Will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?” Mladenov asked rhetorically. “It will not.”
