IDF says 2 Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 killed in separate Gaza strikes

Military says it also killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who was advancing attacks on Israeli troops and citizens, among other ceasefire violations

By Emanuel Fabian
  • Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
 Today, 2:28 amUpdated at 3:02 am
Mourners perform funeral prayers for two Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike targeting a vehicle, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, October 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Two Hamas terrorists who took part in the October 7 onslaught were killed this week by airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the military announced Friday.

A strike on Wednesday killed Maher Walid Omar al-Husseini, the commander of a Nukhba Force cell in Hamas’s military wing, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The military said Husseini attacked the Re’im base on October 7, 2023, and recently was advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, and was attempting to restore Hamas’s capabilities, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

Four IDF soldiers were killed and seven wounded during the Hamas-led onlslaught while battling terrorists at Re’im, which houses the Gaza Division, the regional unit responsible for the Strip and for protecting southern Israel. Another soldier who served at the base and his father were murdered at a junction just outside the military facility, which Hamas attempted to conquer but was repulsed after a lengthy fight.


Earlier Friday, the military said a strike it launched the day before in northern Gaza killed Mohammed Mohammed Abd al-Khalek Hala, who it identified as a Hamas commander in the terror group’s weapons production division, who invaded Israel on October 7.

The military said Hala produced various weapons and advanced “the military buildup of the terror group across the Gaza Strip.”

A separate strike on Thursday in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis killed Ahmad Jabrin Tawfiq Dalha, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the IDF.

Both terror operatives had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians and were attempting to restore the capabilities of the two terror groups, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the IDF said.

The latest strikes came as the IDF in recent months has increasingly targeted terror operatives in Gaza, including numerous October 7 terrorists, saying they posed a threat to Israeli forces.

According to the military, many of the recent strikes focused on Hamas operatives involved in building up the terror group’s force, as well as secret headquarters and Hamas’s civil control mechanisms in the Strip.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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