Elimination of Hamas terrorist
Elimination of Hamas terroristIDF spokesperson

Israeli forces killed a senior Hamas terrorist Sunday who had been responsible for smuggling Iranian cash into the Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesperson said in a statement.

Hamed Ahmed Abed Khudari, 34, was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike Sunday afternoon, as part of a large-scale Israeli retaliation against a massive wave of rocket attacks from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Gaza health officials confirmed Sunday afternoon that Khudari had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Hamas identified Khudari as one of its commanding officers. He is the fifth casualty reported in Gaza since Israel launched its retaliatory attacks on the Hamas-ruled Strip following a massive wave of rocket attacks that have left three Israelis dead and half a dozen injured.

Two Israelis, ages 40 and 22, were killed Sunday afternoon after a rocket fired from Gaza struck a factory in the coastal city of Ashkelon. On Saturday, 58-year-old Moshe Agadi was killed by a rocket strike on Ashkelon.

Khudari, 34, was the owner of a money-changing company which had been declared a terrorist group in 2018, and had smuggled large amounts of cash from Iran to Islamic Jihad and Hamas, providing the cash-strapped terrorist groups with much-needed foreign currency.

Israeli security forces say Khudari’s elimination was a joint effort of the IDF and Shin Bet internal security agency.

“A short while ago, Hamed Ahmed Abed Khudari,” an IDF spokesperson said, “was killed in a joint IDF and ISA operation. Khudari was responsible for substantial cash transfers from Iran to terror organizations operating within the Gaza Strip.

“Khudari was the owner of the monetary exchange company, Hamed Co. for Exchange / Al Wefaq Co. for Exchange, which Israel designated a terrorist organization in June 2018.

“Khudari's financial activity, which served as Iran's spearhead in the Gaza Strip, contributed significantly to the promotion of terror activities and the military buildup of terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.

“The IDF and ISA will continue operating to thwart and disrupt Iran's attempts to promote terror activity from within the Gaza Strip by funding terror organizations such as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.”

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