IDF takes out Hamas commander, Hamas claims destroyed Israeli tank

Wail Asfa was one of the commanders who ordered the invasion of Hamas terrorists into southern Israel on October 7.

The commander of Hamas’s Deir al-Balah Battalion of the Central Camps Brigade, Wael Asefa, was killed overnight on Sunday by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF and Shin Bet said on Monday.

The strike, which was conducted by an IAF fighter jet, operated on intelligence provided by the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence Directorate in carrying out the operation.

The Israeli security apparatus said that Asefa was one of the commanders of the Central Camps Brigade who ordered the invasion of Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on October 7.

The Hamas leader planned subsequent attacks on Israel in the wake of the historic massacre.

Wael Asefah, commander of Hamas’s Deir al-Balah Battalion, was targeted in an Israeli airstrike.

Previously, Asefa had been imprisoned between 1992 and 1998 for his involvement in terrorist attacks against Israeli communities and IDF personnel, the IDF and Shin Bet noted.

After his release, he continued to be a central figure in planning and orchestrating attacks on Israeli civilian and military forces.

Hamas claims it destroyed an Israeli tank

Earlier on Monday, Hamas released a video in which they claim to have hit an Israeli tank in Northwest Gaza with an Al-Yassin 105 rocket.

The video was published on their Arabic-language Telegram channel.

Hamas video claiming the Al-Qassam Brigades destroyed an Israeli tank penetrating the Al-Isra neighborhood, northwest of Gaza, with an ‘Al-Yassin 105’ rocket. (Hamas Telegram)