The IDF struck a Hamas command and control center Tuesday overnight inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the military said in a statement. According to the IDF, the facility had been used to plan and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Following the strike, the Palestinian Shehab News Agency reported that Hassan Eslayeh, a Gaza-based terrorist who posed as a journalist, was killed. On October 7, Eslayeh broadcast live images of a burning Israeli tank near the border fence while disguised as a member of the press. He had survived a previous Israeli elimination attempt in Khan Younis last month.
IDF strike in Khan Younis
Gaza’s health ministry, controlled by Hamas, reported that two people were killed in the strike and several others were injured. According to local reports, the second fatality was Ahmad al-Qudra, head of the Gaza police's narcotics division.
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The IDF added that "numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians" before the strike using precision-guided munitions, aerial surveillance and intelligence prior to the strike.
It further said added that Ismail Barhoum — a senior Hamas figure who had succeeded Gaza’s Hamas prime minister and managed finances and institutions within the terror group’s political bureau — operated from the Nasser Hospital compound. Barhoum was killed in a targeted airstrike in March.
“Senior Hamas officials continue to use the hospital for terrorist activity, through cynical and brutal use of the civilian population in the hospital and its surroundings,” the IDF said. “The IDF and ISA will continue to operate against the Hamas terrorist organization in order to protect the civilians of the State of Israel.”
Eslayeh was briefly employed by CNN after October 7 but was later fired due to his ties to the terrorist organization. After last month’s failed elimination attempt, the IDF and Shin Bet said Eslayeh was an active Hamas operative in Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade who had infiltrated Israel on October 7 and took part in the massacre.
During the attack, he filmed and posted images of looting, arson and killings. In the past, Eslayeh also published a photo of himself being kissed on the head by former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.