The IDF on Thursday released images of a lavish meal held in March by Hamas Rafah Brigade commander Muhammad Shabana, weeks before he was killed alongside Mohammed Sinwar beneath Gaza’s European Hospital in Khan Younis.
According to the IDF, the photos were found at the site of the targeted strike. They show Shabana dining with other terrorists underground during an iftar meal inside a tunnel, and other images from the past year show him eating with his family. The dishes included chips, flatbreads, falafel, fish, sausage, grilled meat and vegetables.
“While Gaza residents were forced to break the fast with food scraps, Hamas leaders feasted underground with extravagant banquets,” said IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee. “On one hand Hamas runs a media campaign about the so-called ‘starvation of Gaza,’ and on the other it loots food to feed its leaders and their families. Time after time, the photos, unlike Hamas propaganda, do not lie.”
Shabana assumed command of the Rafah Brigade during the 2014 Gaza war, Operation Protective Edge, after the killing of three senior Hamas commanders. Under his command, four battalions operated, including the elite Nukhba unit that spearheaded the October 7 massacre.
He survived multiple assassination attempts in the past, including during the IDF’s ground operation in Rafah. During the current war three of his sons were killed. Following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, rumors circulated that Shabana had also been killed, but he was in fact eliminated only later, in a dramatic May 13 strike in Khan Younis that targeted Mohammed Sinwar.
The May strike was authorized by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Air Force jets launched within minutes after ground forces confirmed no hostages were present at the site. In a joint statement at the time, the IDF and Shin Bet said: “The Hamas terrorist organization continues to use Gaza hospitals for terror, cynically exploiting the civilian population.”
About three weeks later, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed the deaths of Sinwar and Shabana in what they described as a “senior officials’ tunnel.” The complex operation, carried out adjacent to the European Hospital, involved more than 50 precision munitions dropped in under 30 seconds to destroy the underground passage without disrupting the hospital’s functioning.