The Israeli military has declared a top Hamas commander they say was behind the terrorist attacks on October 7 has been killed in an operation.
Israeli Defence Forces sources have identified Hamas leader Nasim Abu Ajina as having masterminded “the massacre on October 7 in the Kibbutz Erez and Moshav Netiv HaAsara”.
In a statement released on Telegram announcing his death, the IDF noted: “His elimination significantly harms the efforts of the Hamas terrorist organisation to disrupt the IDF’s ground activities.”
Abu Ajina was the head of Hamas’s Beir Lahia Battalion and spearheaded the group’s use of drones and paragliders.
On October 7, Hamas launched a series of attacks from Gaza into Southern Isreal with fighters storming Israeli military bases and killing hundreds of IDF soldiers.
Hamas operatives then moved through nearby Kibbutz where firefights erupted with armed residents before the terrorist moved house to house taking hostages.
In total, the attacks killed more than 1,400 Israelis including soldiers, policemen and civilians.
The killing of Abu Ajina comes as Israeli forces continue to advance deep into Gaza as part of a ground operation to target Hamas.
This offensive using tanks, armoured vehicles and bulldozers follows weeks of heavy air strikes which have killed thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
