Hamas published a statement on Sunday confirming that Israel had eliminated five senior members of the terrorist organization, including the Commander of Hamas' Northern Gaza Brigade officer Ahmed Ghandour, and the Head of Hamas' Rockets Array, Aiman Siam.
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The statement released by Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, noted that Ghandour and Siam, alongside "other leaders" in the organization, "rose to positions of prominence and honor in the al-Aqsa Flood operation. We commit to God that we will continue in their path, and their blood will be light for the soldiers and fire for the occupiers. This is the jihad of victory or martyrdom."
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Five Hamas senior members were eliminated by the IDF
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Also on Sunday, the IDF confirmed that during combat in the Gaza Strip prior to the operational pause, IDF aircraft directed by IDF and ISA intelligence eliminated, among others, five senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip. The other three commanders are Wael Rajeb, Deputy Commander of Hamas’ Northern Gaza Brigade, Farsan Halifa, Senior operative in Hamas' West Bank Headquarters, and Rafet Salman, Commander of the Combat Assistance Unit in the northern Gaza Strip.
The dramatic announcement comes on the third day of the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, as part of the hostage release deal reached with the terror organization, and about a week and a half after IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari explicitly mentioned the Hamas commanders’ names – claiming that Hamas is trying to "hide" the results of attacks carried out by the IDF against their underground hideouts and other senior members.
Unverified reports of Ghandour’s death were already published earlier this month, claiming that even though his body wasn’t located, he was killed in an airstrike. Ghandour, who survived several assassination attempts, has been designated as an international terrorist by the U.S. State Department since 2017 and was also involved in the abduction of Gilad Shalit in 2006.
He was one of the few remaining terrorists from the cell that planned and executed Shalit’s kidnapping operation after the IDF eliminated most of them. His son, Mohannad, a member of Hamas's elite Nukhba unit, was killed on October 7 during Hamas’ surprise attack.
According to the IDF, Ghandour took refuge in one of the two underground sites attacked together with Ayman Siam, who served as the head of Hamas's rocket firing units. Like Ghandour, Siyam survived several assassination attempts, and in 2009, his house in Gaza was bombed.
On the third day of Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the IDF's spokesperson in Arabic reported Siam was eliminated, but after Hamas’ denial, changed the statement from "killed" to "attacked."