Israel kills Hamas commander in strike on Gaza camp, officials say

A senior Hamas figure who helped plan and oversee the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel has been killed in an Israeli airstrike, officials in Israel and Gaza have said.

Samir Abu Younis, the newly appointed commander of the Rafah Brigade, was killed on Saturday in Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades military wing.

A local Hamas official confirmed Younis's death. The Israeli military said it had targeted him and that prior to the strike "steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians".

Eyewitnesses in Gaza said four missiles struck a tent in the Al-Waha camp, which shelters hundreds of displaced people in Al-Mawasi, causing a fire to break out.

A medical source at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said three injured people had arrived there, as well as a dead body.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Israel's security agency, the ISA, confirmed in a statement on Telegram that it had "eliminated" Younis.

Describing him as a "central figure among Hamas's senior figures", it said he had "acted with the aim of trying to restore the strength of the brigade and the Hamas terrorist organisation".

It added: "Younis directed the brigade's terrorists to advance and carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops."

Al-Qassam Brigades wrote on Telegram that Younis had "participated in numerous high-profile operations and resisted enemy incursions", and was "one of the most important commanders involved in planning and overseeing the 7 October attack".

It described his killing as a "cowardly assassination".

Younis, 53, had been in his position since 15 September, following the death of the brigade's previous commander, Nael Abu Obeid.

He joined Hamas' armed wing in 1991 and held several senior operational roles before becoming commander. His funeral will be held on Sunday afternoon in Khan Younis, Hamas said.

The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed an 251 others taken hostage, triggered the most recent war in Gaza.

Since then, more than 74,650 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory, the health ministry there says.

Though a ceasefire was reached last October, Israel has continued occasional strikes it says are targeting remaining Hamas militants, which it argues it has the right to do under the terms of the ceasefire agreement.