Commander of Hamas’s central Gaza rocket unit taken out in airstrike, IDF and Shin Bet say

The IDF and Shin Bet say the commander of Hamas’s rocket unit in central Gaza was eliminated in an airstrike in the past day.

Amar Atiya Darwish Aladini was responsible for Hamas’s rocket fire from the so-called central camps over the past several decades, at least from the 2008 war, according to a joint statement.

The IDF and Shin Bet say Aladini “played a central role in the preparations” for the terror group’s October 7 onslaught, and directed rocket fire on Israeli cities and IDF troops in Gaza amid the fighting.

The IDF says it also carried out strikes on several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya over the past day, in response to rocket fire on Sderot.

The targets included hideout apartments where terror operatives were gathered and weapons were stored, other weapon depots, rocket launchers, and tunnels, it says.