IDF and Shin Bet Eliminate Senior Hamas Operative Involved in Oct. 7 Infiltration and Propaganda Events
By: Fern Sidman
In a significant counterterrorism achievement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced Tuesday that they had eliminated Hamza Wael Muhammad Asafah, a senior Hamas operative, in a precision airstrike in central Gaza carried out two weeks ago. The news, confirmed by both agencies, marks another milestone in Israel’s campaign to dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure and leadership network following the group’s brutal October 7, 2023, terrorist assault on southern Israel.
According to a report on the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) web site, Asafah held a key position within Hamas’s Nukhba Force, the elite terror commando unit responsible for leading the cross-border infiltration into Israeli territory during the October 7 massacre, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 people, including women, children, and elderly civilians. Asafah was specifically affiliated with the Nukhba unit’s Deir al-Balah Battalion, one of Hamas’s most active and violent divisions operating in central Gaza.
Beyond his combat role in the October 7 massacre, Asafah also played a propaganda and psychological warfare role, participating in hostage return ceremonies staged by Hamas. These events were cynically designed to manipulate global public opinion and present Hamas as a legitimate political actor rather than the brutal terrorist organization that it is designated as by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada, and others.
Asafah is believed to have been directly involved in the publicized return of Israeli hostages Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben-Ami, and Or Levy, according to the IDF and Shin Bet, as cited by JNS. These so-called “release events” were part of Hamas’s media strategy, in which hostages were often paraded before cameras in a grotesque display aimed at deflecting attention from the group’s ongoing human rights violations and hostage abuses.
The joint IDF-Shin Bet operation that eliminated Asafah followed weeks of extensive intelligence collection and aerial surveillance, designed to confirm his presence and ensure the minimal possible harm to nearby civilians, a consistent operational objective in Israeli precision strikes. As reported by JNS, the IDF and Shin Bet emphasized that Asafah was located in a civilian-dense area, a hallmark of Hamas’s combat tactics, which routinely involve embedding fighters within schools, hospitals, and residential neighborhoods.
In an official statement cited by JNS, the agencies condemned Hamas’s systematic use of human shields, stating: “The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law, using civilian infrastructure and populations as human shields.”
This tactic has been widely documented by Israeli and international sources, reinforcing Israel’s insistence that it adheres to the laws of armed conflict even while facing an adversary that flagrantly disregards them.
The successful elimination of a senior Nukhba Force member calls attention to the IDF’s ongoing commitment to neutralizing Hamas’s leadership and dismantling its military capabilities. According to the information provided in the JNS report, this targeted strike forms part of a broader campaign launched in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, in which Israel vowed to pursue every individual responsible for the unprecedented assault.
Asafah’s death also represents a moral and strategic blow to Hamas, which has faced significant losses among its senior command structure. Since the war began, Israel has reportedly eliminated dozens of mid- and high-ranking Hamas operatives, severely degrading the group’s ability to organize, command, and conduct operations.
While the international spotlight has often focused on ceasefire negotiations and humanitarian conditions in Gaza, JNS reported that Israel’s defense establishment remains laser-focused on its core objective: the protection of Israeli citizens and the dismantling of Hamas as a functioning terrorist entity.
Israeli security officials have made it clear that targeted operations like the one that eliminated Hamza Wael Muhammad Asafah are not isolated actions, but part of a long-term campaign to root out terror at its source. The IDF and Shin Bet have reiterated their intention to continue such operations, combining precise intelligence, strategic patience, and superior technology to remove high-value threats from the battlefield.
As JNS reported, the agencies concluded their statement with a firm commitment:“The IDF and Shin Bet will continue operating to protect the State of Israel.”
For Israel, the mission remains unchanged—to restore security, secure the return of hostages, and ensure that the horrors of October 7 are never repeated.
