IDF eliminates Hamas platoon commander in Gaza strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Gaza Strip no longer poses a military threat to the Jewish state, while acknowledging that Hamas’s civilian rule has yet to be dismantled.

By JNS

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday that it had eliminated a Hamas terrorist responsible for carrying out sniper attacks and planting explosive devices targeting Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.

Adel Jihad Mohammad Asfour, a Hamas platoon commander, was involved in planning imminent attacks on soldiers while helping rebuild the terror group’s capabilities after more than two years of war, the military said.

“The terrorist posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip and was eliminated in an aerial strike,” it added.

Prior to the strike, several steps were taken to mitigate harm to noncombatants, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance, according the the army.

Soldiers remain deployed in the enclave in accordance with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement “and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” it declared.

The current ceasefire went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10, 2025, ending the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.

Under the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Hamas is to cede power and Gaza is to be deradicalized and disarmed, with the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to parts of the Strip currently held by the Israeli military.

Top Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of Trump’s plan in recent months, including disarmament, despite having agreed to the proposal in October.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Gaza Strip no longer poses a military threat to the Jewish state, while acknowledging that Hamas’s civilian rule has yet to be dismantled.

“A few days ago, we eliminated one of the last remaining [senior Hamas leaders], Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who was their military commander and one of the architects of the terrible massacre,” he told Channel 14. “What was the response? Nothing. Zero. Not a single bullet, because we are in control.”

However, the premier noted, “We also had a third objective, and that objective has not yet been achieved: to eliminate their civilian rule.” He added, “We will get there. There is still work to do.”

The Israel Defense Forces will continue to settle the score with every terrorist who took part in the Oct. 7 attacks and “everyone who planned it,” he vowed.