A senior Hamas commander, who had helped plan and direct the October 7th 2023 attack on Israel, has been killed in an Israeli air strike, the Palestinian group has announced.

Hamas’ armed arm, Al-Qassam Brigades, announced that 53-year-old Samir Abu Yunis, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was killed on Saturday.

The Israeli army confirmed that it had killed Abu Yunis during a night-long attack south of the Gaza Strip. According to her, he had taken the lead in the Rafah Brigade following his predecessor’s assassination, Nael Abu Obeid, on September 15th.

Doctors reported that Abu Yunis was killed and several other people were injured by an air strike targeting him, on a street in the Mawas area of Khan Yunis.

According to Hamas, Abu Yunis joined the group’s armed arm in 1991 and had held several high operational positions in Rafah before being appointed commander of the brigade.

The group announced that his burial would be held on Sunday afternoon in Khan Yunis, broadcast Telegrafi.

Although the truce in Gaza went into effect in October 2025, halting large – scale fighting, Israeli attacks have continued during that period.

Health authorities in Gaza say at least 1,600 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the ceasefire. During the same period, five Israelite soldiers were killed.

Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities suggest that more than 74 thousand people have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. In that attack, about 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel. /Telegraphy/