An Israeli airstrike eliminated the head of Hamas’s internal security apparatus in the central Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Monday.
Wael Musa Khaled Ladawi was killed in a precision strike in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah area on Sunday, according to a statement.
“Hamas’s internal security apparatus is a central and clandestine body within the Hamas terrorist organization,” it said. “Under Ladawi’s command, the apparatus collected intelligence for senior Hamas officials, supporting their decision-making and facilitating the planning and execution of terrorist attacks against the State of Israel.”
Precautions were taken to reduce harm to noncombatants, including the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance, the IDF added.
“IDF troops under the Southern Command remain deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the statement concluded.
The U.S.-brokered Oct. 10, 2025, truce in the Gaza Strip ended the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan civilians invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and taking 251 hostages. The terms of the first phase leave the IDF in control of more than half of Gaza.
In a separate statement on Monday, the IDF said airstrikes over the weekend killed two terrorist commanders in the Gaza Strip.
Amro Abu Alrish served as a Nukhba operative in the “military wing” of Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, the army stated, adding that he took part in handing over an Israeli hostage taken captive by the terror group.
“Throughout the war, Abu Alrish took an active part in combat against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip and was involved in executing attacks against IDF troops,” according to the military. “In recent months, Abu Alrish advanced additional terror attacks, attempted to rebuild the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization and took part in training Nukhba terrorists.”
The second strike killed Abd Al-Nasser Al-Aziz Maqadmeh, a commander in Hamas’s “police” and a deputy platoon commander in its “military wing.” The terrorist advanced attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, the IDF said.
Soldiers of the IDF’s Northern Gaza Brigade and the Yahalom combat engineering unit continue to operate in northern Gaza, east of the ceasefire line, and are working to clear the area of terrorist infrastructure, the military stated separately on Monday.
As part of operations to dismantle Hamas’s tunnel network, troops destroyed an underground route stretching hundreds of meters, the statement said.
