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IDF kills Hamas official who directed Judea and Samaria ops

Nael Sakhl was targeted in Gaza on July 24 in a joint IDF and Israel Security Agency operation. His death was confirmed several days later.

IDF in Gaza Strip
Israeli troops during operational activity in the Gaza Strip, August 2024. Credit: IDF.

A senior Hamas official involved in directing terror operations in Judea and Samaria was killed in Gaza late last month, the Israel Defense Forces revealed on Thursday.

Nael Sakhl was targeted on July 24 in a joint IDF and Israel Security Agency operation, according to the military. His death was confirmed several days later.

“For over a decade, [Sakhl] operated in Hamas’s ‘West Bank Headquarters,’ an organization responsible for directing terror activities in Judea and Samaria,” the IDF said.

Sakhl was also involved in financing and supplying weapons to terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003 for involvement in a suicide attack in Israel and in 2011 was released along with current Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as part of the Gilad Shilat deal, according to Ynet.

Joshua Marks is a news editor on the Jerusalem desk at JNS.org, where he covers Jewish affairs, the Middle East and global news.
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