Israel Military: We 'Just Eliminated Him'

Israel's military said Saturday that it had killed two top Hamas commanders who helped lead the massacres in Israel last weekend. Per the Times of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces identifies one of those as Ali Qadhi (also spelled Qadi in some outlets), a commando in the Nukhba unit killed in a drone strike. "Ali Qadi led the inhumane, barbaric October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel," the IDF wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Saturday. "We just eliminated him. All Hamas terrorists will meet the same fate."

Per the IDF, Qadhi was arrested in Israel back in 2005 over ties to the kidnapping and murder of Israeli citizens, but he was subsequently set free in the Gaza Strip thanks to a 2011 prisoner exchange. The drone strike followed intelligence the IDF had received from Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, as well as the Military Intelligence Directorate. Reuters reports that the second Hamas commander killed was Merad Abu Merad, head of Hamas' air forces. The Israel military says the bodies of about 1,500 Hamas terrorists have been found in Israeli territory since the surprise Oct. 7 attacks, per Fox News. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)