Al-Hayya’s ‘turn will also come,’ Katz warns Hamas terror chief

Israeli forces continued to carry out strikes against terrorist infrastructure sites in Gaza over the weekend.

By JNS

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Sunday to eliminate current Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya.

“We eliminated the heads of Hamas in Gaza, and al-Hayya’s turn will also come,” Katz wrote in a Hebrew-language post on X.

He said al-Hayya would “be sent to meet [Ismail] Haniyeh and his friends in the depths of hell,” referring to the former Hamas leader who was eliminated in Tehran in 2024.

Katz’s post came two days after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reportedly met with al-Hayya and other Hamas terrorists in Ankara.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “continues to roll out a red carpet for the murderers and rapists of Hamas,” the defense minister tweeted.

Katz said Erdoğan continued “to support the terror activity they promote from Turkey together with the Muslim Brotherhood against Israel and against important Muslim countries in the region.”

Meanwhile in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) last week eliminated a platoon commander in Hamas’s Nukhba Forces, the security bodies said on Sunday.

Hisham Jamal Muhammad Abu Ghala was among the Hamas leaders who participated in the raid on the Kissufim military outpost and in abducting Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in the northwestern Negev, according to the IDF and ISA.

Abu Ghala was eliminated in an airstrike in the Khan Younis area on Oct. 5, after he engaged in advancing attacks against IDF soldiers in violation of the ceasefire, the agencies noted.

“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” they added.

IDF footage shows Hamas continues to operate within Gaza hospital

Israeli forces continued to carry out strikes against terrorist infrastructure sites in Gaza over the weekend.

The IDF and ISA struck five Hamas terrorist sites across the Strip over a 24-hour period, including three weapons storage facilities, a rocket launch site and an observation command center, the agencies said in a joint statement on Sunday.

The weapons facilities contained dozens of rockets, explosive devices, mortars, assault rifles and other military equipment, according to the statement.

The observation command center in the Daraj Tuffah area was used to direct activities against Israeli troops, while the rocket launch site was located in Al-Furqan, the agencies said.

The military said it issued advance warnings to civilians and used precision munitions and aerial surveillance to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

Also on Sunday, the IDF revealed footage showing armed Hamas men operating within the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the city of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, exploiting the presence of patients, medical staff, and civilians as human shields, in violation of international law.

The footage shows how Hamas continues to use the hospital and its surrounding area to advance terrorist plots and rebuild the organization’s capabilities, the military said.

This is not the first time Gazan terrorist groups have exploited the hospital for their operations.

In December 2024, IDF soldiers operated in the area of the hospital, located extensive military equipment and weapons, and arrested more than 240 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, along with additional operatives suspected of being terrorists, according to the IDF.