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Hamas terrorist who doubled as ‘Al Jazeera’ reporter eliminated by IDF

Muhammad Samir Muhammad Washah was a “key terrorist” in Hamas’s rocket and weapons production headquarters, according to the Israeli military.

IDF troops in Gaza
Reservists of the IDF’s 16th Infantry Brigade, also known as the Jerusalem Brigade, operating in the northern Gaza Strip during the week of Jan. 11, 2026. Credit: IDF.

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday killed a senior Hamas terrorist who doubled as a journalist for Qatar’s Al Jazeera outlet, the military said on Thursday.

Muhammad Samir Muhammad Washah served as a “key terrorist” in Hamas’s rocket and weapons production headquarters, according to the IDF. He was also said to be involved in “the production and transfer of weapons through Gaza.”

“The terrorist was actively involved in planning attacks against IDF troops and posed a concrete threat to forces in the area,” it stated.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF “identified and eliminated” a terrorist suspect who crossed the ceasefire line and approached soldiers in northern Gaza.

The terrorist “crossed the Yellow Line and approached the forces in the northern Gaza Strip, in a manner that posed a threat to them,” according to a statement.

The army emphasized that its troops remain deployed in the Strip under the terms of the U.S.-brokered Oct. 10, 2025, ceasefire agreement “and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the IDF announced that it had killed Muhammad Dawad, an engineering and explosives expert in the Hamas terrorist organization, in a strike in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday.

During the war, Dawad was responsible for the production of explosive devices and served as a key authority in the execution of terrorist attacks, the IDF said, adding that he posed an immediate threat to soldiers.

According to the military, Dawad led and carried out dozens of attacks against Israeli forces.

The current ceasefire went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10, 2025, ending the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.

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