Hamas confirms Rafah Brigade commander Samir Abu Younis killed in Israeli strike overnight

The commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, the terror group confirms.

Shortly after midnight, the military said it had struck a senior commander in Hamas’s military wing in the Khan Younis area, with further details to be provided later.

Hamas’s military wing announces that Samir Abu Younis, also known as Abu Mahmoud, the latest commander of its Rafah Brigade, was killed in the strike.

While the IDF controls all of Rafah, the terror group still appoints commanders for the regional brigade, while operating from the nearby Khan Younis area.

Abu Younis had taken over the Rafah Brigade following the killing of the previous commander, Nael Abu Obeid, by Israel in September. Abu Obeid was already the second Rafah Brigade commander during the war, following the killing of the previous chief, Muhammad Shabana, on May 13, 2025, in a strike on a hospital that also killed Hamas leader Mohammad Sinwar.

Hamas, in a statement, says that Abu Younis was a veteran commander in the Al-Qassam Brigades, joining the terror group’s military wing in 1991, rising through the ranks, and was “one of the key commanders involved in planning and overseeing the October 7 attack.”

The IDF has not yet confirmed that Abu Younis was killed.

The strike comes after, on Thursday, the IDF carried out a strike on Nasser Hospital complex in Khan Younis, aimed at the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.