IDF kills Gaza terrorist commander who it says helped bury hostages’ bodies
Hamas-run health agencies claim at least 44 Gazans killed by IDF, including 25 who waiting for aid in central Strip; in response, army says suspected terrorists had approached troops
An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip this week eliminated a senior commander in the Mujahideen Brigades terror group, who was involved in burying the bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday.
The IDF said Ali Saadi Wasfi al-Agha was killed in a strike on a hideout in central Gaza on Monday.
Al-Agha headed the terror group’s southern Gaza unit and was set to take over the organization after its leader, Asaad Abu Sharia, was killed in a strike earlier this month, according to the military.
“Al-Agha, along with other senior members of the terror group, led the abduction, murder, holding in captivity and burial of Israeli civilians” during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military continued.
He was specifically responsible for the burial of Haggai and Judih Weinstein, Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered from Al-Agha’s home in Khan Younis this month, said the IDF.
Al-Agha was also involved in “directing terror activity under Iranian guidance” in the West Bank and Israel, and recruiting terror operatives, as well as carrying out attacks on troops in Gaza.
In a separate statement later Friday, the IDF also announced that it had killed the chief of Hamas’s finances and an aide to former deputy military wing chief Marwan Issa in an airstrike in central Gaza this week.
Ibrahim Abu-Shamala was struck on Tuesday.
The IDF said “Abu-Shamala served as the financial chief of the military wing of the Hamas terror organization” and was an aide to Issa until he was killed in a strike in March 2024.
“As part of his role, he planned and oversaw the military wing’s budget during the war and implemented it by transferring and smuggling terrorist funding worth millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip for the military wing,” the IDF said.
“With these funds, Abu Shumala contributed to Hamas’s rearming and enabled the distribution of salaries to the Hamas organization’s terrorists, providing meaningful support for Hamas’ ongoing terrorist activity throughout the war,” it added.
This past week, amid the conflict with Iran, the IDF said it struck some 300 “terror targets” in Gaza, including operatives, buildings used by terror groups, weapon depots, and missile and sniper posts.
Also Friday, a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit an open area near the border community of Be’eri, resulting in no injuries.
Meanwhile, health officials in the Hamas-controlled enclave claimed Israeli forces killed at least 44 people on Friday, including at least 25 who had gathered near an aid distribution center south of Netzarim in central Gaza.
Gazan outlets in the territory reported that IDF gunfire also injured dozens more, in the latest in a string of deadly incidents involving aid seekers in the Palestinian territory.
The reports did not specify whether the incident occurred near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center, the US- and Israel-backed aid distribution body, although there is one in the area. Aid trucks from other organizations including the UN also move through the area.
Commenting on the incident, the Israel Defense Forces said troops fired warning shots at suspected terrorists who advanced in a crowd toward them. Israeli aircraft then fired a missile and “eliminated the suspects,” it said in a statement.
The military said it was aware that people other than the suspected terrorists were hurt and it was conducting a review. GHF said the incident did not occur at or near its distribution location.
Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a two-month pause. It placed responsibility for distributing much of the aid it allows into the Strip into the hands of the GHF, which operates sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops.
There had previously been almost daily reports of shootings resulting in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians trying to reach GHF sites. Israel has disputed claims that its forces caused mass deaths.
On Thursday, 95 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced. The trucks underwent an inspection by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said that on Friday it distributed 31,680 boxes of food — amounting to 33 truckloads — at three different sites in Rafah, Khan Younis and central Gaza. According to GHF, the boxes contain enough food for 5.5 people for 3.5 days, but the contents are dry food products that need to be prepared elsewhere in war-ravaged Gaza, where community kitchens and cooking supplies are limited
The World Food Program says roughly 300 trucks a day are needed to serve Gaza’s population, which IDF officials acknowledged was on the brink of starvation before it resumed allowing aid in last month.
Since Israel resumed allowing in aid, 1,879 trucks have entered the Strip.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.