Hamas operative behind 1995 terror attack among those killed in Gaza strikes, says IDF |
The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet on Saturday revealed the identities of several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in strikes across the Gaza Strip earlier in the week, which Israel said were carried out in response to a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire in western Rafah when gunmen opened fire at troops.
Among those killed was Muhammad Hamed Muhammad al-Hawli, identified previously by senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan as a local al-Qassam Brigades commander.
According to the military, al-Hawli was a key figure in the organization for decades, played a significant role in Hamas’s preparations for the October 7, 2023, onslaught, and previously directed the February 1995 Nahal Oz checkpoint attack in which Yevgeny Gromov was killed.
During the attack, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli security vehicle carrying Gromov, who was working as a guard escorting two fuel tankers into the Gaza Strip from nearby Nahal Oz. Gromov was badly wounded, but before he died, he was able to fire back at the terrorists, driving them off. He was the only person killed in the attack.
Hamas never explicitly claimed responsibility for the attack, though according to the IDF, it was carried out at the direction of al-Hawli, who the military said was killed Thursday, some 30 years later.
Reports at the time of the strike indicated that at least five additional people, including al-Hawli’s wife and daughter, were killed in the strike in Deir al-Balah.
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