The Israeli military has declared a top Hamas commander they say was behind the terrorist attacks on October 7 has been killed in an operation.<\/p>\n
Israeli Defence Forces sources have identified Hamas leader Nasim Abu Ajina as having masterminded “the massacre on October 7 in the Kibbutz Erez and Moshav Netiv HaAsara”.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on Telegram announcing his death, the IDF noted: “His elimination significantly harms the efforts of the Hamas terrorist organisation to disrupt the IDF’s ground activities.”<\/p>\n
Abu Ajina was the head of Hamas’s Beir Lahia Battalion and spearheaded the group’s use of drones and paragliders.<\/p>\n
On October 7, Hamas launched a series of attacks from Gaza into Southern Isreal with fighters storming Israeli military bases and killing hundreds of IDF soldiers.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: <\/strong> War on Hamas enters second phase as Israeli troops go into ‘evil stronghold’<\/strong><\/p>\n Hamas operatives then moved through nearby Kibbutz where firefights erupted with armed residents before the terrorist moved house to house taking hostages.<\/p>\n In total, the attacks killed more than 1,400 Israelis including soldiers, policemen and civilians.<\/p>\n The killing of Abu Ajina comes as Israeli forces continue to advance deep into Gaza as part of a ground operation to target Hamas.<\/p>\n This offensive using tanks, armoured vehicles and bulldozers follows weeks of heavy air strikes which have killed thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n