IDF: We killed Hamas ‘psychological terror operative’ in airstrike this week

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

This undated photo published by the IDF on April 4, 2025, shows Hamas operative Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil. (Via Israel Defense Forces; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
This undated photo published by the IDF on April 4, 2025, shows Hamas operative Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil. (Via Israel Defense Forces; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The IDF and Shin Bet announced that a Hamas member who “served as a propaganda and psychological terror operative” was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip this week.

Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil “played a central role in Hamas’s propaganda apparatus, systematically spreading false information and leveraging media as a tool for psychological terror and to promote the murderous narrative of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the military says.

Bardawil also worked as a broadcaster with the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa Radio.

The IDF says that “while he was referred to as a well-known journalist in Gaza, he was an integral part of Hamas’s incitement and terror infrastructure.”

“Bardawil took an active part in producing the cynical propaganda videos distributed by the terrorist organization Hamas, in which the abducted Israelis were filmed during their captivity in Gaza,” the IDF adds.

According to Palestinian media, Bardawil was killed on Monday in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, alongside his wife and three children.

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