The IDF acknowledges that it did not kill the commander of Hamas’s Shati Battalion in December 2023, after Palestinian media reported that Haitham Hawajri was among those who handed over hostage Keith Siegel to the Red Cross today.
In a statement, the IDF says that after Hawajri was targeted on December 3, 2023, “it was determined with a high level of probability by the IDF and Shin Bet that he had been eliminated, following which an IDF spokesperson statement on the subject was issued.”
“After further examination, it emerged that the intelligence finding on which the Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet relied was not correct and the terrorist was not eliminated in this strike,” the military says.
Last month, the IDF acknowledged that it did not kill the commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion as it had previously announced.
In October, the IDF said that a previous announcement on the elimination of the commander of Hamas’s Tel Sultan Battalion was incorrect, but he was killed in a separate strike.
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