IDF says it killed commander of Hamas’s Deir al Balah battalion

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Smoke billows after a strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 6, 2023. (SAID KHATIB / AFP)
Smoke billows after a strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 6, 2023. (SAID KHATIB / AFP)

The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed the commander of Hamas’s Deir al Balah battalion in an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF says Wael Asfeh, along with other commanders of the so-called Central Camps Brigade, took part in sending terrorists of Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces into Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Asfeh planned additional attacks, the IDF says. The IDF says Asfeh was jailed by Israel between 1992 and 1998 for his involvement in a number of attacks against Israeli communities.

The military publishes a video showing the airstrike.

So far, the IDF has reported killing more than a dozen senior Hamas field commanders.

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