IDF Strike Kills Zaytoun Battalion Commander After Gunfire on Troops in Gaza

The IDF carried out a series of strikes across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon after terrorists opened fire on Israeli forces operating near Khan Younis, killing two senior members of Hamas’s military wing. No Israeli soldiers were injured in the incident.

The IDF said “Terrorists fired toward the area where IDF forces were operating in Khan Younis, a violation of the ceasefire agreement. There were no casualties to our forces.” The response, it added, was led by Southern Command, guided by the Shin Bet, and executed by the Air Force. “IDF forces under Southern Command are deployed in the area and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat. The IDF will continue to operate forcefully to remove any threat to the State of Israel.”

One of the strikes targeted the Zaytoun neighborhood in northern Gaza, killing a senior Hamas field commander identified by Palestinian sources as the commander of the Zaytoun Battalion and deputy to Azz al-Din al-Haddad in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade. According to those sources, he was killed in a strike on a building belonging to the Gaza Waqf. They also said he had survived four previous assassination attempts during the war and was wounded in one of them.

A second strike killed Abdullah Abu Shamala, described by Palestinian sources as a former commander in Hamas’s naval commando unit. He reportedly died in an attack in the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza.

Gaza authorities said at least 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across the Strip since the morning, with reports of additional attacks in Khan Younis, Shajaiya, and the vicinity of Palestine Square in central Gaza City.

Earlier Wednesday, the IDF reported a separate incident in which a Carmeli Brigade combat team identified armed men crossing the yellow line in northern Gaza. The military said the suspects approached Israeli forces in a manner that posed “an immediate threat,” prompting troops to open fire and kill one of them.

The IDF said its forces remain deployed throughout the area and will continue operating to prevent further attacks.