IDF says senior member of Hamas security forces killed in Gaza airstrike

A senior member of Hamas’s general security forces was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City yesterday, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.

According to the military, the target of the strike, Tharwat Muhammad Ahmad al-Bayk, served as the head of the security directorate in Hamas’s General Security Service.

Al-Bayk was targeted while at a Hamas command center embedded within the Musa Ibn Nusayr school, in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood, the IDF says.

The school was serving as a shelter for displaced Gazans, and Palestinian media reported at least eight dead in the strike.

The IDF and Shin Bet say that the security directorate in the General Security Service is a Hamas body that is tasked with building an intelligence picture to help the terror group make decisions.

The unit is also responsible for the protection of Hamas’s top officials, and is tasked with providing shelters for the senior commanders and leaders to enable them to continue their military activity, the joint statement says.

“Al-Bayk was considered one of the main links in the mechanism, and a significant factor in [Hamas’s] decision-making,” the statement continues.

The IDF says it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using a precision munition and aerial surveillance.