The Israeli army announced that it had killed a leader of Hamas' military arm before Palestinian sources confirmed the death of a commander of the Islamist movement in the southern Gaza Strip.
© Lusa
15/11/2026
by
Lusa
O israel's army announced today that it had killed a leader of Hamas' military arm before Palestinian sources confirmed the death of a commander of the Islamist movement in the southern Gaza Strip.
“A short time ago, the Israeli army and the Shin Bet [internal intelligence service] struck a terrorist in charge of Hamas’ military arm,” said a brief announcement from the army.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza Civil Protection, who operates under the authority of Hamas, told the news agency France-Press (AFP) that an Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, had caused one dead and several wounded.
A Palestinian security source then detailed to AFP that “the commander of the Rafah Brigade of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade, Samir Abu Younis, was killed in an attack that targeted his person, which occurred earlier in Al-Mawasi.”.
Hamas’ military arm confirmed the death of the commander on the Telegram message platform, denouncing “a cowardly murder” and specifying that Samir Abu Younis “was among the most important commanders in planning the October 7 attack.”.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the ceasefire which entered into force on 10 October last, after two years of a war triggered by the unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on 7 October 2023.
Since the entry into force of the truce, more than 1,600 Palestinians have been killed, according to a survey of the AFP based on data from the Ministry of Health of Gaza, a body under the authority of Hamas, whose statistics are considered reliable by the UN.
On Thursday, the Israeli attacks killed 11 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian aid teams. It was the most lethal day since the Israeli legislative elections on October 27.
Former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, a rival of the late Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is conducting negotiations to form a government coalition.
However, Netanyahu, who has placed Israel's security at the heart of his political discourse, remains in charge and maintains responsibility for military operations.