The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday confirmed last week’s killing of Bassel Hashem Abd al-Fatah al-Haymuni, the terrorist responsible for the 2004 Beersheva bus bombings in which 16 Israelis were murdered.
Al-Haymuni, a Hebron native who was arrested in the wake of the attack but later deported to Gaza as part of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner deal, was slain in an IDF airstrike in the Gaza Strip last week, the IDF stated.
“In August 2004, al-Haymuni sent several suicide bombers to carry out a double attack on two buses in Beersheva, in which 16 Israeli civilians were murdered and about 100 others were injured,” the army said.
Since his 2011 release, al-Haymuni “returned to recruiting terrorists and directing terror activity,” it said, adding that he “was involved during the war in manufacturing and planting explosives to harm our soldiers.”
The statement noted that the elimination of the Palestinian terrorist operative constituted “an important and valuable closing of a circle.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the military said that Israeli forces killed a Hamas commander who took part in many terrorist attacks against Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip.
The elimination of Ahmad Hasan, the head of a sniper unit in the terrorist group’s Beit Hanoun Battalion, came in response to the “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement” on Monday, according to the IDF, referring to an incident in which Hamas gunmen emerged from a tunnel in eastern Rafah and opened fire on troops.
🔴ELIMINATED: Ahmad Hasan, Head of the Sniper Array in the Hamas Beit Hanoun Battalion, and responsible for leading multiple attacks that killed several IDF soldiers.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 11, 2026
Hasan took part in numerous terror attack plans against IDF soldiers in northern Gaza and was recently… pic.twitter.com/0Ppk9MDshT
No Israeli casualties were reported in Monday’s incident in southern Gaza, in which troops killed the four Palestinian terrorists who had opened fire at them.
Israeli forces also carried out strikes against Hamas terrorists in Gaza on Tuesday in response to Monday’s incident.
Hasan was involved in coordinating several deadly assaults on IDF soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip during 2025 and was planning additional attacks before being targeted, the military said.
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said Hasan led operations that killed six Israeli soldiers and wounded several others in previous incidents in April and July 2025.
The military said Hasan led the July 7, 2025, attack that killed Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Benyamin Asulin, Staff Sgts. Noam Aharon Musgadian, Meir Shimon Amar and Moshe Shmuel Noll and Sgt. Moshe Nissim Frech, and left two other soldiers seriously wounded.
He also helped plan an April 19, 2025, assault that killed Warrant Officer G’haleb Sliman Nasasra and seriously injured a tracker, a combat officer and a female combat medic, according to the statement.
The IDF said Hasan was also involved in an April 24, 2025, attack that killed Master Sgt. (res.) Asaf Cafri and left two soldiers seriously wounded.
“The IDF will continue to operate against any attempt by the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out terror attacks against the IDF troops and the State of Israel,” the military said.
