Hamas terrorist behind 2003 shooting that killed MK’s husband slain in Gaza airstrike, says Israel
Security agencies confirm killing Farah Hamed, who they say fought troops in Gaza during the recent war and was ‘involved in recruiting and directing’ attacks in the West Bank
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Israeli security bodies on Thursday confirmed the killing of a top member of the Hamas terror group, responsible for numerous deadly terror attacks, in a strike in Gaza City the day before.
Hamas said Wednesday that Farah Hamed, a “commander and fighter” in the terror group’s military wing and a member of the “Military Council of the al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank,” was killed in a strike in Gaza City’s Sheikh Ijlin neighborhood.
The strike killing Hamed was carried out by the Israel Police’s elite Gideonim unit (Unit 33), in a joint operation with the Shin Bet and IDF, the three bodies said.
Hamed was a member of the “Silwad cell,” which operated during the Second Intifada and carried out a series of deadly shooting attacks in the West Bank. He was later deported to Gaza.
According to the Shin Bet, Hamed was involved in a November 2002 shooting at Rimonim Junction, in which Esther Galia Attiya was killed; a June 2003 shooting on Route 60 in which Zvi (Howard) Goldstein was killed; an August 2003 shooting which critically wounded current Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, and killed her husband, Shalom Har-Melech; and an October 2003 shooting in Ein Yabrud in which three soldiers were killed: Sgt. Elad Polak, Sgt. Roi Yaakov Solomon and Staff Sgt. Erez Idan.
Since he was released to Gaza in 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange deal for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, the Shin Bet said he “continued to belong to Hamas’s military wing and was involved in recruiting and directing the organization to advance attacks” in the West Bank.
Israeli security bodies confirm the killing of a top member of the Hamas terror group, responsible for numerous deadly terror attacks, in a strike in Gaza City yesterday.
Yesterday, Hamas said Farah Hamed, a "commander and fighter" in the terror group's military wing, and a… pic.twitter.com/fQRlGcBnDa
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 10, 2026
The Shin Bet described Hamed as a “senior figure” in Hamas’s so-called West Bank Headquarters, a unit involved in recruiting terrorists and advancing attacks against Israel from or within the West Bank, and said he also took part in fighting against IDF troops during the war in Gaza.
His killing was hailed by Son Har-Melech, who described it as closure.
“Any terrorist who murders Jews should know: Even if you are freed, even if you escape and even if many years have passed, the long arm of Israel will reach you,” she wrote on X.
Israel has previously targeted a number of the 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners released in the Shalit deal during the Gaza war sparked by the Hamas-led invasion of Israel in October 2023, including a May 2024 strike in Rafah that killed the head of the West Bank cell that Hamed belonged.
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