Hamas’s chief propagandist, Hudahaifa Kahlout, or Abu Obeida, was killed in a targeted killing on Saturday by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security agency, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday.
“Hamas terror spokesperson Abu Obeida was eliminated in Gaza and sent to meet all the eliminated members of the Axis of Evil from Iran, Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen in the depths of hell. Congratulations to the IDF and Shin Bet for the flawless execution. Soon, with the intensification of the campaign in Gaza, many more of his criminal partners—Hamas murderers and rapists—will join him there,” Katz wrote on X.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the IDF had targeted Abu Obeida in an airstrike in Gaza City.
“We struck the Hamas spokesman, the spokesman of the murderous, evil organization, Abu Obeida,” Netanyahu said ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting. “I hope he is no longer with us, but I notice that there is no one left to answer that question on Hamas’s side.”
The IDF said on Saturday night that it had struck a “key Hamas terrorist” in the Gaza City area, amid reports that Abu Obeida had been killed.
The operation was directed from the joint situation room of the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the two organizations said in a statement. It was “made possible due to prior intelligence gathered by the Shine Bet and the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate, identifying the terrorist’s hiding place.”
Abu Obeida, the statement said, “was one of the last remaining senior terrorists of Hamas’s military wing from before October 7, 2023.”
According to Hamas, the airstrike targeted a building in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, and caused “dozens of deaths and injuries.”
A Palestinian source told Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya channel on Sunday morning that the Hamas propaganda chief, who has never shown his unmasked face to the public, had been killed.
On Oct. 25, 2023, the Arab media division of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit revealed Abu Obeida‘s identity, naming him as Hudhayfah Kahlot.
“Hudhayfah Kahlot, you have been exposed,” Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab media division, tweeted, sharing a video revealing Kahlot’s face. “He and other Hamas-ISIS leaders like to hide inside tunnels and behind women and children, as well as behind masks and shadows.”
“It is time to stop covering up. The mask and keffiyeh will not help you,” said Adraee.
On Friday, Abu Obeida, 40, threatened the hostages’ lives in response to the IDF’s plan to capture Gaza City, saying that the terrorist organization would keep captives “as much as possible” alongside its operatives.
He warned that “the enemy army will pay in the blood of its soldiers” and threatened more kidnappings. According to him, Hamas is “on alert, with high morale, and will teach the invaders harsh lessons.”
The IDF continues to strike Hamas and is enhancing its focus on the area of Gaza City, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Friday.
Zamir spoke hours after the military announced that daily humanitarian tactical pauses would no longer apply to Gaza City, which was described as “a dangerous combat zone.”
Netanyahu on Aug. 14 outlined the government’s parameters for ending the war against Hamas in Gaza.
The conditions for victory were listed as the disarmament of Hamas; the return of all 48 remaining hostages; the demilitarization of Gaza; Israeli security control; and establishing an alternative civilian administration.
