Israel kills senior Hamas naval commander

Israel has claimed that it has struck and killed a senior member of Hamas’s naval force Muhammed Abu Shamala in the Gaza Strip overnight.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) said aircraft struck Muhammed Abu Shamala, a senior operative in the Rafah Brigade.

“Abu Shamala’s residence was also used to store naval weapons intended to be used in terror operations against Israel,” the IAF added.

The Israeli Air Force further informed that it conducted a “wave of strikes” targeting the Nukhba elite forces of the Hamas terrorist organisation, by striking operational command centres used by operatives who infiltrated the communities surrounding the Gaza strip last Saturday.”

“The Nukhba elite forces consist of terrorists selected by senior Hamas operatives, designated to carry out terrorist attacks such as ambushes, raids, assaults, infiltration through terror tunnels, as well as anti-tank missile, rocket, and sniper fire. The Nukhba elite forces were one of the leading forces that infiltrated the State of Israel in order to carry out murderous acts of terror against its citizens,” the IAF said on X.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, while speaking to reporters, said the military also killed Mustafa Shahin, a Hamas operative who filmed and broadcast the terror group’s murderous attack on southern Israel on Saturday.

“We will close the account with everyone who was involved in the horrors of the war. We take videos from the internet and identify them with the help of facial recognition,” Hagari said.

According to Hebrew media reports, the Israeli death toll since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Saturday has reached 1,300.

Around 3,300 people have been injured, including 28 in critical condition and 350 in serious condition.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run health ministry said 1,203 Palestinians have been killed and another 5,769 have been wounded in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF has said it has killed some 1,500 Palestinian terrorists in Israeli territory.