The Israeli Air Force struck and killed senior Hamas terrorists in Rafah on Monday, the IDF and Shin Bet announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.

The strikes were carried out based on precise intelligence information from the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence. The eliminated terrorists were identified as Sayid Katab Alkhashash, Osama Hamd Zaher, Muhammad Aud Almelalakhi, the heads of Hamas’ Emergency Bureau in northern and eastern Rafah, as well as Hadi Abu Alrus Kasin, an operations officer.

According to the statement, the slain officers “were representatives of the Hamas leadership in Rafah, oversaw Hamas’s activities in humanitarian zones, and were responsible for coordinating with Hamas operatives in the field.”

Also, Nidal Aleed, the head of Hamas’ emergency bureau in Rafah, was eliminated in an IDF strike last week.

Additionally, reports from Gaza on Wednesday said that IDF and Shin Bet forces operating in Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza arrested Khaled al-Batash, a senior Islamic Jihad leader on Tuesday. The reports have not been confirmed by the IDF but if they are true, it is the most significant arrest since the beginning of the war. Al-Batalsh, a member of the Politburo of Islamic Jihad and its leader in Gaza, manages the financial and administrative departments of the terror organization and is close to Hamas.

Al-Batash was arrested by Israel in the past several times and served time in prison for terror activities. He was also arrested several times by Palestinian police after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)