Overnight (Thursday), the IDF and ISA struck in the northern Gaza Strip and eliminated senior members of Hamas’ General Security Apparatus.
The General Security Apparatus is a central and clandestine body responsible for securing senior Hamas officials, maintaining communications between them, and coordinating their meetings. Senior members of the apparatus are responsible for protecting Hamas leaders, facilitating their movement between emergency facilities, and producing intelligence assessments, including the collection of intelligence on security forces, which assists the organization’s leadership in decision-making and in executing attacks against the State of Israel.
In the strike, the terrorist Hassan Rabah Hassan Labad, Deputy Head of the General Security Apparatus and a central figure in decision-making and the development of directives within the apparatus, was eliminated.
In addition, the terrorists Asim Amin Shalash Shubair, Abdullah Ata Younes Abu Kaloub, and Muhammad Naaman Zaki Abu Mark were eliminated. The three were additional senior officials who played key roles in the apparatus’ decision-making processes.
The senior members of the General Security Apparatus were eliminated in order to remove an immediate threat, after recently engaging in efforts to rebuild the Hamas terrorist organization and assisting its leadership in advancing terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops.
Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
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.