Israeli airstrike kills Hamas naval commander in southern Gaza

Jerusalem, Nov 24

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday said that an airstrike in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, killed a Hamas naval commander.

In a statement on X, the military said: “Amar Abu Jalalah was a senior operative in Hamas’ naval forces and involved in directing several terror attacks by sea that were thwarted by the IDF."

Without giving any additional details, the IDF also said that "an additional operative in Hamas’ naval forces" was also killed.

Earlier this week, a senior IDF official told mediapersons that the nation believes it is having some success in removing senior Hamas military operatives,

Israel's assessment suggested the military wing of Hamas was made up of 24 battalions, 10 of which had been “hurt significantly” by Israeli strikes since October 7, CNN quoted the official as saying.

Some battalions in the north of Gaza lost more than four of their commanders, the official said, representing a loss to those battalions of more than half their senior command.

Among other things, this made it harder for the military leadership of Hamas to issue orders for counterattacks, the official said, because there was increasingly no one available to direct operations.

Replacing commanders in the middle of a war was not possible, the official added.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians have fled from Khan Younis to the north on Israel's directive, the BBC reported.

Days ago, Israel distributed flyers to Palestinians there warning them to move out of the city -- suggesting the military operations could soon move towards the south of the Gaza Strip.