A commander for the Hamas terrorist group who infiltrated the Re'im military base during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel has been killed, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The IDF said in a July 10 X post that Israeli forces struck in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, killing Yahya Saeed Muhammad Hamdan.
Hamdan was the head of a Nukhba squadron, the special forces of the military wing of Hamas.
“In recent months, Hamdan advanced terror plots against IDF forces and attempted to act to restore the capabilities of the Hamas terror organization,” the IDF said.
“The terrorist posed an immediate threat to our forces operating in the area and was eliminated in a precise aerial strike.”
The Israeli military said IDF forces under its Southern Command are deployed in the area and “will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
On July 9, the IDF also announced it had killed Waheed Abu Salam, who had infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7 attacks. The military said in an X post that Salam took part in the abduction of Israeli civilians, taking them to the Gaza Strip where he was involved in holding them in captivity throughout the war.
Abu Salam served as the western commander of the Gazan city of Khan Yunis, according to the IDF.
“In recent months, Abu Salam advanced additional attacks, including efforts to rehabilitate weapons intended to harm IDF troops operating in the area,” the military said.
Targeting Terrorists in Gaza Strip
These are the latest Israeli strikes to target terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF and the Israel Security Agency said in a joint statement that Ismail Masri, the head of military defense in Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, was killed in a June 23 airstrike.
According to the Israeli military, Masri oversaw military security and counterintelligence activities during the war. He also helped rebuild Hamas’s military capabilities and directed activities intended to attack Israeli troops operating in Gaza.
The IDF said in a separate statement on June 29 that it had killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Zaher Brahim Khalil Abu Salem.
Israeli forces said Abu Salem had infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7, attacks, participated in the abduction of Israeli civilians, and later planned additional attacks against Israeli troops and civilians.
