Israel says it killed commander of north Gaza naval force in strike on cafe last week

The IDF and Shin Bet announce that they killed Ramzi Ramadan Abd Ali Salah, the commander of Hamas’s naval force in northern Gaza, during an airstrike last Monday in Gaza City.

The military confirms that he was the target of the strike on a cafe, in which Hamas-linked authorities said killed 24 people.

Several other terrorists were also killed in the operation, the military says.

Salah, identified by the IDF as a key figure in Hamas’s maritime capabilities, had been actively planning attacks against Israeli forces operating in the Strip. He was targeted inside a building in Gaza City, where he was meeting with other operatives.

The strike, carried out by an Israeli Air Force jet, was guided by intelligence from the Navy, the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Shin Bet.

Among the additional Hamas members killed were Hisham Ayman Atiya Mansour, deputy head of a Hamas mortar unit, and Nassim Muhammad Suleiman Abu Sabha, a member of Hamas’s mortar unit.

The IDF claims that several measures were taken to minimize civilian harm, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence assessments.

Salah is the fourth Hamas naval commander to be eliminated since the war began — with all three of his predecessors also killed in Israeli attacks — dealing repeated blows to the terror group’s maritime capabilities.

Hamas’s naval force is not currently considered operational, with no known maritime vessels in its waning military arsenal.