The IDF and Shin Bet, Israel's security agency, announced on Wednesday that they killed seven terrorists operating in the Gaza Strip in a series of strikes earlier this week. Among them was Gamal Abu Said, who held Israeli hostage Omar Shem Tov while he was in captivity in Gaza.
According to the IDF, Abu Said held several senior positions within Hamas. His roles included responsibility for training military operatives outside the Gaza Strip, command of an anti-tank battalion, and oversight of military specializations in the Central Camps Brigade.
The military added that Abu Said played an instrumental role in Hamas's connections with various countries and was considered a significant source of knowledge for the terror group.
In two strikes carried out on Monday in the area of Khan Yunis, the IDF and Shin Bet killed Mahmoud Jihad Mohammad Qafa and Asaad Suleiman Salman Qashta. Qafa served as the head of a sniper cell in Hamas's military wing, while Qashta was a member of Jaish al-Islam, also known as the Army of Islam.
A day earlier, on Sunday, three Hamas terrorists and one member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were killed, also in the Khan Yunis area. The three Hamas members, Mohammad Zakaria Al-Jamal, Shaher Mohammad Zaarab and Mohammad Amin Al-Namas, all served in the group's military wing. Al-Jamal was the head of a cell, and Zaarab served as a Nukhba Company Commander.
The fourth terrorist killed in Sunday's strikes, Mohammad Ali Abu Shaar, was a sniper for Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
In a separate announcement on Monday, the IDF said it had killed four Hamas terrorists in a series of weekend strikes in Gaza, including one who invaded Israeli territory during the October 7, 2023 massacre.
In a strike in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces killed Nukhba terrorist Muhammad Kamel Masleh Qadih, who infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and oversaw the preparation and training of Hamas's Nukhba forces. Another Nukhba terrorist in Hamas's military wing, Diaa Abd al-Mohsen Muhammad Abu al-Rous, was killed in a strike in the area of Nuseirat in central Gaza.
In the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF killed Nabil Hamad, described as a senior member of Hamas's military recruitment framework, and Mohannad Nader Mahmoud Dahdouh, a sniper commander who the military said had been actively involved in combat against Israeli troops.
