Israeli forces killed a Hamas Nukhba cell commander in a strike in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the military said, identifying him as Mohammed Emad Alrahman Abu Taima, a participant in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack who infiltrated Kibbutz Nirim.
The Israel Defense Forces said Abu Taima led a Nukhba unit responsible for ambushes against Israeli troops during the war and in recent months was involved in maintaining operational readiness and recruiting terrorists for Hamas.
He was targeted in a “precise airstrike” after posing an immediate threat to troops operating in the area, according to the IDF.
IDF eliminates two Hamas commanders in Gaza strikes
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Tuesday they had eliminated a Hamas Nukhba Force commander and a commander in the terror group’s intelligence unit.
Ahmad Yahya Ibrahim Batsh, a cell commander for the Nukhba Force that led Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, was killed in a strike in northern Gaza on Sunday, the military said.
According to the IDF, Batsh advanced terror attacks against Israeli soldiers throughout the War of Redemption, including in recent days.
In a separate strike on Monday in southern Gaza, the military said it killed Hamouda Abu Daqa, whom it identified as a commander in Hamas’s intelligence unit.
The IDF said Abu Daqa was involved in gathering intelligence on Israeli forces to direct and carry out attacks against soldiers “and posed an immediate threat to the troops operating in the area.”
The strikes were carried out after measures were taken to reduce harm to noncombatants, including the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance, the IDF added.
On Monday, the IDF said it had eliminated a commander in the training department of Hamas’s “military wing” in an overnight airstrike in northern Gaza.
Fadi Falah Ashour Daghmash, oversaw “various training programs,” including for the Nukhba Force in the lead-up to the Oct. 7 massacre. He also directed terror attacks against IDF ground troops in Gaza, the military said.
“In recent months, Daghmash advanced additional attacks and sought to restore the operational capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization,” according to the IDF.
Also on Monday, the IDF announced it had struck five terrorists in northern Gaza, killing at least one. The incident, which occurred over the weekend, was triggered by the operatives’ attempt to restore underground terrorist infrastructure west of the ceasefire line, the military said.
The IDF military named Hudhayfah Hussein Abdullah al-Hawajri, a Nukhba terrorist in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion, as the terrorist killed in the strike, adding that the other four were hit.
On Sunday, the IDF said it killed, in separate strikes the previous week, Muhammad Najib Ashour, a Nukhba Force platoon commander, and Tamer Saeed Abu Nakhal, a cell commander in Hamas’s military wing, for their involvement in the advancement of attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Soldiers remain deployed in the enclave in accordance with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement “and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” it stated.
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.
