IDF: Oct. 7 terrorist and others ‘operating under guise of journalists’ killed in Gaza
Military names six killed in Beit Lahiya strike on Saturday; two Hezbollah operatives killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday detailed the identities of six Palestinian terror operatives it said were killed in airstrikes in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya a day earlier, including a terrorist who participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
According to Palestinian media, the strikes killed nine, including journalists.
The IDF said that a first strike targeted two operatives using a drone for the purpose of attacks on troops in Gaza.
A second strike was carried out against another group of operatives who picked up the drone equipment, according to the military.
The IDF said the strikes killed “several terrorists, including terrorists who were operating under the guise of journalists.”
“Based on intelligence information regarding the terror activity in the area, it was determined that the drone was in constant use by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, including during its use [on Saturday],” the IDF said.
They were named by the IDF as: Mustafa Mohammed Shaaban Hamed, a Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel on October 7, 2023; Mahmoud Yahya Rashdi as-Saraj, a member of Hamas’s engineering forces; Bilal Mahmood Fuad Abu Matar, a Hamas operative operating under the guise of a photographer; Mahmoud Imad Hassan Isleem, a member of Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion, operating under the guise of a journalist; Suheib Bassem Khaled Najar, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who was released in the recent hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas; and Mohammed Alaa Suhbi al-Jafir, a Hamas operative.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Protection Center, a local watchdog, said the dead included three Palestinian journalists who were documenting aid distribution.
The Al Khair Foundation said that eight of its workers were killed in the strikes. It denied the Israeli military’s allegations that those killed were terrorists or had connections to Hamas.
The IDF has said in the past that the Al-Khair Foundation, a Muslim nonprofit based in Britain and Turkey, is an aid group that transfers funds to terror groups in Gaza “under the guise of humanitarian activity” and that the organization has employed at least one senior Hamas official.
Hamas, in a statement, called the attack a “serious escalation,” showing Israel’s attempts to “sabotage any opportunity” to implement the ceasefire agreement.
Hezbollah operatives targeted
Separately, two Hezbollah operatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon earlier Sunday, the military said.
According to the IDF, the pair were carrying out surveillance on the border and were involved in advancing attacks on Israel from the Yater and Mays al-Jabal area.
“The terrorists’ activities constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said.
The strikes in Lebanon and Gaza come amid ceasefires on both war fronts, but Israel has said it will continue to act against terror operatives who are in breach of the truces and who pose a threat to its forces.
In Gaza, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal that began on January 19, which has seen 33 Israelis returned. Talks are underway to potentially extend the first phase or move to the second stage of the agreement, although Israel has said there could be a return to fighting.
A November 27, 2024, truce in Lebanon largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The fighting came after the terror group attacked Israel on October 8, 2023, in support of ally Hamas, which invaded from Gaza a day earlier. The persistent rocket fire from Lebanon displaced some 60,000 Israeli civilians.
Last month, Israel withdrew all its forces from southern Lebanon, except for five strategic points, saying it had received a green light from the US to remain at those posts and citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area and threatening Israel.
The Times of Israel Community.