Israeli Air Strike in Gaza Kills Hamas Rafah Brigade Commander Samir Abu Younis
A senior commander of Hamas's armed wing, Samir Abu Younis, has been killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip. The strike hit the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis on Saturday; Hamas's armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed his death on Sunday.
Abu Younis was 53 years old. He was the commander of Hamas's Rafah Brigade.
Israel's military and the Shin Bet security agency had earlier said in a joint statement that they had targeted a senior Hamas military commander in a drone strike in Khan Younis on Saturday. They did not name the commander.
Local medical workers in Gaza said the air strike targeted Abu Younis on a road in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis; the attack, which hit a tent sheltering displaced people, wounded two others. The casualties were taken to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.
Al-Mawasi is a coastal strip on the Mediterranean crowded with displaced Palestinians living in tents. Israel has repeatedly attacked the area despite previously designating it a humanitarian zone.
According to Hamas, Abu Younis joined the group's armed wing in 1991. He held various important military posts in the Rafah area before becoming commander of the Rafah Brigade. His funeral was due to be held in Khan Younis on Sunday afternoon.
Since the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, major fighting in Gaza has stopped, but Israeli attacks have not; nor, under the terms, has Hamas's disarmament been ensured.
In the Gaza Health Ministry's latest update on Saturday, Israeli attacks killed 16 people and injured 68 others over the past 48 hours. Since the ceasefire took effect, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,643 Palestinians and injured 5,964, and at least 850 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
According to the Health Ministry, since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, at least 74,695 people have been killed and 176,093 injured. Israel launched the campaign after the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel.
The ministry also reported that deaths related to cold have risen to 11 after a nine-month-old baby died from hypothermia, the first such death this winter. Most of Gaza's displaced residents are living in tents and damaged buildings, and water damage from recent heavy rains has set in.
