IDF strike kills Hamas finance chief in Gaza

The military said his financial operations played a key role in Hamas’s rearmament efforts and the payment of salaries to its operatives, significantly bolstering the group’s ongoing activities during the war.

By Charles Bybelezer, JNS

A targeted airstrike in central Gaza on June 17 killed Ibrahim Abu Shumala, the director of finance for Hamas’s “military” wing, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.

Abu Shumala previously served as a close aide to Marwan Issa, Hamas’s deputy commander, who was killed in March 2024.

According to the IDF, Abu Shumala was responsible for planning and managing Hamas’s wartime budget, overseeing the transfer of millions of dollars in terrorist funding into the Gaza Strip.

The military said his financial operations played a key role in Hamas’s rearmament efforts and the payment of salaries to its operatives, significantly bolstering the group’s ongoing activities during the war.

The IDF on Friday said it had killed a senior member of the Mujahideen Brigades (“Kataeb al-Mujahideen”), Ali Saadi Wasfi al-Agha, in central Gaza.

He was responsible for burying in captivity Gadi Haggai and Judy Lynn Weinstein-Haggai, a couple whose remains have since been returned to Israel.

The terrorist was killed on Monday in a joint operation conducted by the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the military said.

Al-Agha served as the military commander of the Mujahideen Brigades’ southern Gaza unit and was expected to succeed the former head of the group, Asaad Abu Sharia, eliminated in an Israeli strike earlier this month.

The military further stated that the slain terrorist also directed and promoted terrorist activities, under Iranian guidance, with operatives in Judea and Samaria and inside Green Line Israel.

Also on Friday, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired a rocket that struck an open area near Kibbutz Be’eri, causing no injuries or damage. In accordance with standard protocol, the attack triggered air-raid sirens.

The rocket fire comes amid continued IDF ground operations across the Strip as part of “Gideon’s Chariots,” a campaign to dismantle Hamas’s remaining terror capabilities, take control of key areas in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining 53 captives.

The IDF Southern Command directed more than 300 attacks across the Gaza Strip over the past week, the military said.