Hamas commander Samir Abu Younis, who was reported to have played a key role in the planning of the October 7 2023, attack on Israel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza on Saturday.
The information was confirmed on Sunday by Israel's military and internal security agency Shin Bet.
They said that they targeted a senior member of Hamas's military wing. Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades also confirmed younis death and described it as an assassination.
The 53-year-old was the commander of Hamas’s Rafah brigade. According to a security source, he was killed in a strike targeting him in AL Mawasi, West of Khan Younis. Israel has previously attacked Al-Mawasi despite previously designating it as a humanitarian zone. The area houses displaced Palestinian people.
Gaza’s civil defence body confirmed receiving his body and reported that two others were also injured in the attack. The strike on Saturday hit a tent sheltering displaced people, Al Jazeera reported.
Video footage posted by Palestinian journalists showed ambulances inside the grounds and stretchers with blood stains.
The October 7 attack reportedly triggered two years of war in Gaza. A ceasefire was proposed in October 2025; however, tensions have continued since.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Israeli attacks have killed at least 16 people and injured 68 others over the past 4 hours.
