Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday that Samir Abu Younis, 53, the commander of its Rafah brigade, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza on Saturday. The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had struck a senior commander in Hamas's armed wing, but did not identify him.

Source: Reuters

Medics said Abu Younis was killed and other people were wounded in an airstrike that targeted him in a street in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera reported that the attack hit a tent sheltering displaced people and wounded two others, and that the casualties were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, according to medical personnel there.

Source: Al Jazeera

What each side says

Israel's military and the Shin Bet security agency said in an earlier joint statement that they had targeted a senior Hamas military commander in a drone strike in Khan Younis on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported. Israeli media reported that Defence Minister Israel Katz appeared to confirm the killing in a social media statement describing it as part of Israel's continuing campaign against Hamas's leadership.

Hamas said Abu Younis had helped plan and oversee the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Reuters reported. The group said he joined its armed wing in 1991 and held several senior operational roles in Rafah before becoming commander of the brigade. Israeli media reported he had only recently taken command of the Rafah brigade, replacing Abu Atiya Abu Obeid, who was killed in September. Hamas said his funeral would be held on Sunday afternoon in Khan Younis.

Second brigade commander killed in three days

The killing follows Thursday's Israeli strike inside the Nasser Hospital compound in Khan Younis, which Israel said targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, the commander of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade. The Israeli military has also said it eliminated more than 10 operatives across Gaza over the past week and, on Saturday, released seized documents it said show systematic military use of Gaza hospitals by Hamas and Islamic Jihad — claims that have not been independently verified.

Source: Reuters

The Nasser Hospital strike, which Gaza officials said killed at least six people, deepened the dispute over Israel's operations inside medical facilities. Read: Israeli strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital kills at least six

A ceasefire that has not stopped the strikes

An October 2025 ceasefire halted major fighting in Gaza but has not stopped Israeli attacks or secured Hamas's disarmament, Reuters reported. Gaza's Health Ministry said in its Saturday update that Israeli attacks had killed 16 people and injured 68 others over the past 48 hours, and that at least 1,643 Palestinians have been killed and 5,964 injured since the ceasefire took effect on October 11, 2025, with at least 850 bodies recovered from under the rubble. Gaza health authorities told Reuters at least 1,600 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect, and five Israeli soldiers have been killed in the same period.

Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel in October 2023, Reuters reported. The Gaza Health Ministry's latest total, reported by Al Jazeera, stands at 74,695 killed and 176,093 injured since October 2023. Al-Mawasi, the coastal strip where Abu Younis was killed, is crowded with displaced Palestinians living in tents; Israel had previously designated it a humanitarian zone.