IDF slays Hamas terrorist engaged in rebuilding Gaza tunnel network

The IDF also announced that Hamas is using Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza Strip, to conduct security interrogations and torture as it seeks to maintain control over Gaza’s population.

By JNS

The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday killed a company commander in the Deir al-Balah Battalion in Hamas’s “military” wing in the central Gaza Strip.

Throughout the war, he took part in efforts to restore Hamas’s underground infrastructure, and recently, he advanced terrorist attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, the IDF said.

Identified as Sharif al-Hasanat, he was killed while posing an “immediate threat” to the troops.

On Friday, the IDF killed a terrorist in Gaza and detained another in two separate incidents, the military said.

In southern Gaza, a terrorist crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to troops positioned in the area, the IDF said.

“The troops fired and neutralized the terrorist in order to remove the threat,” it added.

Earlier in the day, troops operating in the central Gaza Strip identified a Hamas terrorist armed with a knife.

After he crossed the Yellow Line, the forces apprehended him and transferred him for questioning in Israel, the army said.

“IDF troops under the Southern Command remain deployed in the area in accordance with the [ceasefire] agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the military added.

In a separate statement, the IDF said that it had eliminated on Wednesday in Gaza a Hamas terrorist named Sabahi Sami Mahmoud Shahata who held numerous hostages following the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to the murdering of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping of 251 more into the Strip.

Sabahi, a platoon commander in Hamas’s “military” wing, also infiltrated Israel and participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, according to the IDF.

“In November 2023, as part of the hostage release agreement, Sabahi participated in the handover ‘ceremony’ of the returnees and their transfer to the Red Cross,” the military continued.

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

On Thursday, the IDF and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement that Hamas is using Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza Strip, to conduct security interrogations and torture as it seeks to maintain control over Gaza’s population.

The statement said Hamas is exploiting the hospital “as a center of power regardless of its medical function, for the purpose of interrogations, torture and extortion.”

Another building currently used for interrogations had previously housed hospital offices, a cafeteria and later a house of prayer, the statement added.

Katz: Israel maintaining tough policy on Gaza

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel’s policy for Gaza is to “remove threats, eliminate terrorists, and exact retribution from anyone who took part in the October 7 massacre.”

The IDF eliminated Hamas terrorists in Gaza earlier in the day and will “continue to act with force to protect our soldiers and ensure the peace for the southern communities—from within the security zone,” Katz added.

The IDF presently controls roughly half of the Gaza Strip, a territory referred to as the security zone.

On Monday, U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner said that progress toward Gaza’s demilitarization could begin within 30 days, following a nearly four-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Kushner told Fox News that Washington would not support rebuilding Gaza before demilitarization, adding that the administration had addressed Israeli concerns about the Board of Peace roadmap and clarified that Israel’s right to act against imminent threats would not be restricted.

“We could be seeing progress in as little 30 days, hopefully on starting to take some of the weapons out, and hopefully filling in some of the tunnels as well in the next 60 to 90 days,” Kushner said, adding that progress would require cooperation from both sides.

Netanyahu and representatives of the Board of Peace, the U.S.-backed transitional international body meant to oversee postwar Gaza and chaired by President Donald Trump, held “deep and constructive” discussions on Monday, according to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

The sides agreed to establish two working groups, including one focused on the disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza.

It was also agreed that the process should be completed promptly before any reconstruction begins in the Strip, according to the PMO statement.