From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Hamas battalion commander killed in Gaza strike — IDF
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The commander of Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip late last night, the military announces.
The strike on a car north of Gaza City killed Ahmad al-Batash, who commanded the Jabalia Battalion in Hamas’s North Gaza Brigade, according to the IDF and a “martyr poster” circulated by Palestinian media.
As in other recent strikes, the military says Batash was involved lately in advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians and tried to restore Hamas’s capabilities, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire.”
“The terrorist was eliminated to remove the threat he posed,” the army says.
عكا/ حدشوت للو تسنزورا:
اغتيال القيادي البارز في كتائب القسام "أحمد البطش" إثر غارة جوية استهدفت مركبة كان يستقلها شمال غرب مدينة #غزة. pic.twitter.com/IQSZDk1ttg— غزة الآن – Gaza Now (@nowgnna) September 14, 2026
Batash is the latest in a list of senior Hamas commanders to be killed in Israeli strikes.
A strike on Thursday killed Muhammad Abdul Salam al-Yazouri, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
In the past two weeks alone, some 25 terror operatives were killed in Israeli strikes in the Strip, including at least 10 commanders in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, according to the military.
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