Ayman Nofal, Top Hamas Commander, Killed in Israeli Strike

A senior Hamas military commander has been killed in the Gaza Strip, the militant group confirmed on Tuesday, as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue their unprecedented bombardment of the isolated coastal region ahead of an expected ground offensive in the coming days.

The Associated Press cited Hamas' military wing—the Al-Qassam Brigades—as confirming the death of Ayman Nofal in an airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday. Newsweek has contacted an IDF spokesperson to request comment.

Nofal was a member of Hamas' General Military Council and was responsible for its operations in the central portion of the Gaza Strip. He was associated with the formation of the militant group's "joint operations" room, which oversaw coordination with other armed Gaza-based groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, AP said.

He is the most high-profile militant to be killed in the unprecedented IDF land, air and sea bombardment of the besieged Palestinian region since it began on October 7.

The strikes—which have killed almost 3,000 people in the Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza—began after Hamas launched the deadliest-ever terror attack on Israel. "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," as Hamas named the infiltration and rocket attack, killed more than 1,400 Israelis.

The IDF confirmed the killing of Nofal in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "We just eliminated Ayman Nofal, a senior Hamas operative," the force wrote. "Nofal was the Commander of Hamas' Central Brigade in Gaza and the former Head of Military Intelligence."

"Nofal directed many attacks against Israeli civilians and besides being one of the most dominant figures in the terrorist organization, he was involved in the planning of the abduction of Gilad Shalit," it added, referring to the Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2006 and released in a prisoner exchange in 2011. "We won't stop until we eliminate Hamas," the IDF wrote.

Michael Milshtein, an expert on Palestinian militant groups working at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, told Newsweek that Nofal was "number four" in the Hamas leadership structure.

"He had a very important role in the event that IDF forces were coming into Gaza, and for sure it will make things more complicated for them," Milshtein said.

The killing, Milshtein said, is "very good news" for Israel as its troops prepare their ground assault into Gaza.

"From day to day there is more and more damage to the leadership, and it's getting more and more severe," Milshtein said.

"It makes them very angry," he added, noting the barrage of rockets fired toward Israeli cities soon after Nofal's death was announced.

Nofal is among several senior Hamas figures to have been killed in Israeli strikes since the group's landmark attack. The IDF on Monday published a list of Hamas targets confirmed killed including Economy Minister Joad Abu Shmalah, and Zachariah Abu Ma'amar, who served as the head of the group's international relations office.

The other senior military figures killed were Ali Qadi, the commander of the Nukhba special forces unit; Muetaz Eid, the commander of Hamas' Southern District of National Security; and Belal Alqadra, the commander of the Nukhba Southern Khan Yunis Assault Company.

Update 10/17/23, 1:20 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and comment from Michael Milshtein.

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