IDF eliminates senior Hamas, PIJ commanders in Gaza

One of the terrorists was a doctor who murdered hostage Corp. Noa Marciano.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The IDF killed three senior terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Wednesday in a series of targeted operations across the Gaza Strip in response to an attack on IDF forces within the Yellow Line that seriously injured one soldier.

The IDF called the attack a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.”

Among the targets was Muhammad Issam Hassan al-Habil, the head of a Hamas terror cell who also worked as a doctor at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital.

Al-Habil was responsible for the murder of IDF observer Cpl. Noa Marciano in November 2023.

Marciano was taken to Al-Shifa after being lightly wounded in an IDF strike, following her capture during Hamas’ takeover of the Nahal Oz outpost on Oct. 7, 2023.

As Israeli forces approached the hospital, al-Habil killed her by injecting air into her veins, causing a fatal heart attack, to prevent her rescue.

His identity was revealed during Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) interrogations of captured terrorists.

Al-Habil was eliminated in a joint IDF-Shin Bet operation in the Shati refugee camp.

Intelligence Unit 414, in which Marciano had served, contributed to the intelligence that led to the strike.

“This elimination brings closure for the Marciano family, and to the IDF and Shin Bet,” the IDF stated.

In a separate operation, the IDF killed Ali Raziana, the commander of PIJ’s Northern Gaza Brigade, in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

According to the IDF, Raziana not only commanded several thousand terrorists, but he was also responsible for coordinating with Hamas to plan and execute attacks on Israeli forces, and served on PIJ’s military council.

The IDF said Raziana also oversaw the holding of hostages in northern Gaza whom PIJ terrorists abducted during the Oct. 7 invasion and massacre of nearly 1,200 people in southern Israel.

His death makes him one of the most senior terrorists eliminated since the Gaza ceasefire began nearly four months ago.

The military also announced the killing of Bilal Abu Assi, a Hamas Nukhba platoon commander who led the massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.

He was eliminated in an airstrike in the Muwasi area of southern Gaza.

“The IDF and ISA will continue to operate against any terrorist involved in the brutal October 7th massacre and against any attempts by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians,” the army said in a statement following the operations throughout the Strip.