Hamas commander killed trying to flee Rafah tunnel; slain IDF soldier’s rifle recovered

IDF says early-morning strike killed 4 operatives who emerged from tunnel where dozens remain trapped

The commander of Hamas’s East Rafah Battalion, his deputy, and two other terror operatives were confirmed by the military to have been killed early Sunday morning after attempting to flee a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.

The operatives were spotted emerging from the tunnels in eastern Rafah, an IDF-held area where dozens of Hamas fighters were believed to be trapped underground.

According to the military, the four operatives were killed by troops and the Israeli Air Force.

In recent weeks, the IDF has reported killing over 30 terror operatives and capturing a further eight, after they tried to flee from the tunnels in Rafah. According to a prominent Hamas member in Gaza, the group estimates some 60 to 80 fighters are still holed up in the tunnels beneath the southern Gaza city.

In a video circulating online, the commander of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade, Col. Arik Moyal, said his forces, with support from the Israeli Air Force, killed the local Hamas battalion commander, his deputy, a company commander, and a fourth operative he identifies as the son of senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.

Last week, IDF officers told reporters that the Hamas battalion commander and several company commanders were leading the trapped operatives.

In the video, Moyal showed a Tavor assault rifle recovered from the slain terror operatives, which he said belonged to Staff Sgt. Or Mizrahi, a Nahal soldier who was killed while battling terrorists on the Gaza border during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught.

“This is what happens to those who mess with us. Either they surrender, or we’ll kill them,” Moyal said.

The matter of the trapped Hamas fighters has gone without resolution for nearly two months since the ceasefire went into effect in early October, as mediating countries have tried to negotiate terms for their safe passage back to Hamas-controlled areas.

According to a Channel 12 report last week, Israel conveyed a proposal to Hamas the week before that would allow the operatives to leave the tunnel, as long as they surrender and agree to be transferred to Israeli prisons.

Since the proposal was made, the operatives have not surrendered and have on multiple occasions emerged from tunnels in attempts to flee or attack IDF forces.

Israel has resisted giving the fighters unconditional free passage and has insisted that Hamas disarm, a key piece of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.

Those who have survived after months of holding out in the tunnels are thought by the IDF to be running out of supplies and starving.