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Israeli military kills Hamas commander who directed Oct. 7 civilian kidnappings
The Israel Defense Forces eliminated Walid Haniyeh, a Hamas commander who directed the kidnapping of civilians during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. The military also reported additional strikes that killed four other Hamas operatives in recent days.
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The Israel Defense Forces eliminated a Hamas commander on Thursday who directed the kidnapping of civilians during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, the military said on Saturday. Walid Haniyeh served as the deputy commander of a Nukhba Force company in Hamas's military wing.
He infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 and provided operational instructions to the terrorist cell as they took Israeli civilians hostage into the Gaza Strip, according to the military statement. Haniyeh continued to recruit and train terrorists during the past two-and-a-half years of war, the statement said.
Additional strikes reported On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces killed three operatives in Hamas's naval police unit, including the commander in the central camps sector, the military said on Sunday. The three men were traveling in a vehicle while armed with weapons and posed a threat to troops operating in the Gaza Strip, according to the statement.
In a separate airstrike on Wednesday, the military killed Abd al-Rahman Maher Abd al-Karim Ziyada, who commanded a Nukhba Force cell and stole an Israeli military vehicle during the Oct. 7 assault. On the same day, the Israel Defense Forces eliminated Kamal Mohammad Hamdan Najjar, head of a Hamas tunnel unit in the Khan Yunis area.
The Oct. 10, 2025 truce agreement ended the two-year war in the Gaza Strip that began when Hamas and other Palestinian groups invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
