The Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday that a senior Hamas commander who oversaw numerous violent attacks was killed during the Israeli bombing, according to the Times of Israel.
According to the IDF, Billal al-Qedra, the leader of the southern Khan Younis battalion of the so-called Nukhba unit, was assassinated in an airstrike as a result of intelligence gathering by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence Directorate.
According to the Times of Israel, he was in charge of last weekend’s horrific assaults on the southern settlements of Nirim and Nir Oz.
“He was responsible for the murderous raid in Kibbutz Nirim and Nir Oz,” according to the IDF.
The IDF reported that overnight airstrikes in the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of several Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.
Meanwhile, the IDF hit over 100 targets overnight, including Hamas command centers, military compounds, dozens of rocket launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts and observation posts; and Islamic Jihad command centers, Times of Israel reported.
“IDF warplanes, under the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet, killed last night in the Gaza Strip, Bilal al-Kedra, the commander of the Nakhaba force in the South Khan Yunis battalion of the terrorist organization Hamas, who was responsible for the murderous raid on Kibbutz Nirim and Nir Oz. In addition, other operatives in the terrorist organization Hamas as well as in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were eliminated,” IDF posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF eliminated another big commander in Hamas’s commando forces who led one of the attacks on southern Israel communities last week, The Times of Israel reported.