Hamas battalion chief, deputy commander killed in Gaza airstrikes, IDF says

Two senior Hamas commanders were killed in recent airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the IDF and Shin Bet say.

According to the army, Ahmad Salman ‘Awj Shimali, the deputy commander of the Gaza City Brigade, and Jamil Omar Jamil Wadiya, the commander of the Shejaiya Battalion, were killed in airstrikes in recent days. The military does not detail where or when they were killed.

According to the IDF, Shimali was “responsible for operations, planning the offensive strategy and building the brigade’s force in preparation for Hamas’s brutal massacre on October 7,” and during the war, he was responsible for the deployment of the brigade’s force.

Wadiya took over the Shejaiya Battalion after his predecessors were killed in December 2023, according to the army. On December 2, 2023, the IDF killed Shejaiya Battalion commander Wissam Farhat and, a week later, killed his replacement Emad Qariqa.

“Wadiya was responsible for deploying the battalion’s forces against IDF troops and operated to restore and reorganize the battalion,” the military says.

The statement adds that Wadiya was also involved in a 2011 anti-tank missile attack on an Israeli school bus driving near the Gaza border. The attack killed 16-year-old Daniel Viflic.