This is the dramatic moment a top Hamas commander was blown sky high after a brutal Israeli missile strike in the Gaza Strip overnight.
Video footage on social media shows the home of Muhammed Abu Shamla and surrounding buildings explode into a massive fireball before thick smoke quickly fills the night sky.
The IDF said one of its aircraft struck and killed Abu Shamla – a senior operative in the terror group’s naval forces – in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The operative’s residence was also being used to store naval weapons “designated for terror against the State of Israel”, according to the IDF.
The IDF said in a press release: “IDF aircraft struck Muhammad Abu Shamla, a senior Hamas naval operative in the Rafah Brigade.
“Abu Shamla’s residence was used to store naval weapons designated for terror against the State of Israel.”
The elimination of senior Hamas Navy member Abu Shamla could prove to be a massive blow for the terrorist group and will likely have significant implications for the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.
The loss of a top commander will likely weaken Hamas’s naval capabilities but could also spark retaliatory action from the terrorist group that could further escalate tensions in the region.
Separately, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters in a call the military had also killed Mustafa Shahin, according to The Times of Israel.
He was a Hamas operative who filmed and broadcast the terror group’s murderous attack on southern Israel on Saturday.
Hagari said: “We will close the account with everyone who was involved in the horrors of the war. We take videos from the internet and identify them with the help of facial recognition.”
The IDF said overnight it had also launched a wave of strikes targeting the Nukhba elite forces of the Hamas terrorist organisation.
The military struck operational command centres used by operatives who infiltrated the communities surrounding Gaza last Saturday.
The IDF added in a press release the Nukhba elite forces consist of terrorists selected by senior Hamas operatives.
Their job is to “carry out terrorist attacks such as ambushes, raids, assaults, infiltration through terror tunnels, as well as anti-tank missile, rocket, and sniper fire.
“The Nukhba elite forces were one of the leading forces that infiltrated the State of Israel in order to carry out murderous acts of terror against its civilians.”
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