Hamas operative behind 1995 terror attack among those killed in Gaza strikes, says IDF

Army says recent airstrike killed Muhammad Hamed Muhammad al-Hawli, who was responsible for shooting death of Israeli Yevgeny Gromov more than 30 years ago

The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet on Saturday revealed the identities of several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in strikes across the Gaza Strip earlier in the week, which Israel said were carried out in response to a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire in western Rafah when gunmen opened fire at troops.

Among those killed was Muhammad Hamed Muhammad al-Hawli, identified previously by senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan as a local al-Qassam Brigades commander.

According to the military, al-Hawli was a key figure in the organization for decades, played a significant role in Hamas’s preparations for the October 7, 2023, onslaught, and previously directed the February 1995 Nahal Oz checkpoint attack in which Yevgeny Gromov was killed.

During the attack, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli security vehicle carrying Gromov, who was working as a guard escorting two fuel tankers into the Gaza Strip from nearby Nahal Oz. Gromov was badly wounded, but before he died, he was able to fire back at the terrorists, driving them off. He was the only person killed in the attack.

Hamas never explicitly claimed responsibility for the attack, though according to the IDF, it was carried out at the direction of al-Hawli, who the military said was killed Thursday, some 30 years later.

Reports at the time of the strike indicated that at least five additional people, including al-Hawli’s wife and daughter, were killed in the strike in Deir al-Balah.

The IDF also confirmed that it killed Ashraf Adnan Muhammad al-Khatib, who, according to the military, was the commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket and missile array in central Gaza.

Arabic media reported that an airstrike on Thursday night struck a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing al-Khatib along with his wife and wounding several others.

Israel also confirmed killing Saeed Khaled Ali Abd al-Rahman, whom the IDF identified as the sniper commander in Hamas’s Deir al-Balah Battalion and a “major source of expertise in the field.” It is unclear where and when al-Rahman was killed.

In an additional strike, the IDF said it killed two more Hamas operatives who were involved in efforts to rehabilitate the group’s infrastructure, without specifying their identities or the location of the strike.

The military said the strikes dealt a “significant blow” to the terror groups’ ability to plan and carry out attacks against IDF troops deployed in Gaza under the ceasefire, vowing to continue acting against attempts to harm Israeli troops and civilians.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run health ministry reported that hospitals in Gaza received the body of one person killed by the military, as well as several wounded by IDF fire, over the previous 24 hours. The report did not identify the dead person or say where they were killed.

Palestinian media reported Friday evening that a teenager was killed by IDF gunfire on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya. The IDF has not commented on the reports.

The media identified him as Muhammad al-Brawi, 16. His body was reportedly brought to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital and taken by his family for burial earlier Saturday.

Gaza hospitals also attended to six people wounded by IDF gunfire in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said. It did not specify where the people were wounded or the severity of their wounds.

Additionally, the health ministry reported Saturday that a 27-day-old girl died of cold exposure. Palestinian media identified the baby as Aisha al-Agha. She reportedly was found dead Saturday morning in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

According to the ministry, she was the eighth child to die of cold exposure in Gaza this winter season, starting in December.

The Palestinian territory’s population of more than 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather, including rain and severe storms, at bay, amid a shortage of humanitarian aid and Israel’s ban on the entry of trailer homes. It’s the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas started on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group led thousands of fighters in an invasion of southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted into Gaza.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, Israel has killed over 400 people in the Strip since the ceasefire-hostage agreement came into effect in October, adding to the more than 70,000 killed during the war, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.