GAZA — A senior Hamas commander, who helped plan and oversee the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike.Samir Abu Younis, the newly appointed commander of the Rafah Brigade, was killed on Saturday in Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. A local Hamas official also confirmed Younis’s death. Abu Younis, who was a long-time member of the brigade, had replaced Nael Abu Obeid, the previous commander who was killed in a strike in September. And Abu Obeid himself replaced Mohammad Sabaneh, another commander of the Rafah Brigade who was killed in May 2025.In a statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades acknowledged the death of Abu Younis, saying he had joined the brigade in 1991 and was “among the most prominent commanders who participated in planning and overseeing” the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. “The IDF continues to eliminate Hamas leaders in Gaza, and another one joins his predecessors in the depths of hell,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. “The offensive policy that I am leading together with the Prime Minister and the IDF in Gaza will continue – until Gaza is demilitarized and there is no Hamas.”Eyewitnesses in Gaza said four missiles struck a tent in the Al-Waha camp, which shelters hundreds of displaced people in Al-Mawasi, causing a fire to break out. A medical source at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said three injured people had arrived there, as well as a dead body.The killing of Abu Younis underscores an emerging pattern in Gaza. Despite a nominal ceasefire that went into effect more than one year ago, Israel has continued to carry out strikes targeting members of Hamas, particularly senior commanders. But those commanders are quickly replaced as Hamas entrenches its own grip on power over the half of Gaza not occupied by Israel.The IDF strike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza last week killed at least six people, including a doctor and a child, according to Palestinian officials. The strike hit the hospital’s surgery unit, killing Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira and a 13-year-old boy who was awaiting surgery. A total of 40 others were injured in the strike, including two doctors who were in critical condition, officials said.
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