IDF: Southern Gaza strike targeted Hamas brigade commander

The Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Thursday that an overnight strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, commander of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade.

Other terrorists hiding in the hospital were also targeted, according to the joint statement. The IDF had said in an earlier statement that the results of the strike were still under review.

Abu Ismail oversaw the brigade’s terrorists and directed them to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, the military said. He was also responsible for holding “numerous hostages captive throughout the war.”

The IDF said the terror group had turned the hospital compound into a headquarters, using it to advance “dozens of terrorist plots” against Israeli forces and to rebuild the brigade, “which suffered significant damage throughout the war.”

The military said it issued advance warnings to the local population before the strike, and used precision munitions and aerial surveillance to lower the risk of harm to noncombatants.

In the earlier statement, the IDF said Hamas had set up a command center inside the hospital complex, which it used to store weapons, interrogate and torture Gazans and coordinate attacks on Israeli forces.

The military released graphics of the hospital and also published a conversation in which an IDF officer warned a senior official in Gaza’s health system that the military would act inside hospitals if the terror group kept exploiting them.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday reiterated that Hamas must disarm and Gaza must be demilitarized before reconstruction begins under U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.

“To date, Hamas has not surrendered a single weapon,” according to the statement, calling on mediators to demand the terrorist group’s immediate disarmament throughout Gaza. Hamas’s continued refusal to disarm remains the principal obstacle to rebuilding the enclave, the office added.

Jerusalem said it is working closely with the United States and the Board of Peace and remains committed to the success of Trump’s plan. It has also facilitated additional humanitarian supplies to help Gazans prepare for winter, according to the statement.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10, 2025, ending the two-year war that started when Hamas, other Palestinian terror groups and unaffiliated Gazans invaded the western Negev on Oct. 7, 2023.