From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 5, 2024
IDF says key Hamas battalion commander was killed in Sunday strike on Gaza school
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The commander of Hamas’s Sheikh Radwan Battalion, known in the IDF as the al-Furqan Battalion, was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip yesterday, according to the military.
Jaber Aziz, the commander of the battalion which is part of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, was killed in an airstrike against a school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, the IDF says.
The IDF said yesterday that it struck two Hamas command and control rooms embedded within the Hassan Salama and Nasr schools in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan.
Citing intelligence information, the IDF says Aziz was killed in the strike on the Hassan Salama school, alongside other operatives.
Israel just bombed displaced people in a school again: the Hassan Salama School, west of Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/pNRpmHR0AU
— ???? mari ???? (@mariresisting) August 4, 2024
Aziz has served in the role of commander of the Sheikh Radwan Battalion since 2020, after previously serving as the deputy commander of the battalion. He also previously headed the Zeitoun Battalion, according to the IDF.
The IDF says he took a “significant part” in planning the October 7 onslaught, leading the preparations and training in his battalion.
Aziz himself participated in raiding Israeli communities on October 7, according to the IDF.
During the war, Aziz directed numerous attacks against Israeli troops in Gaza, and against Israeli civilians, and the IDF says his killing is a “significant blow” to Hamas’s capabilities.
