The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet (ISA) have eliminated Rawhi Mushtaha, the terrorist who headed the Hamas government in Gaza.
The IDF and Shin Bet announced in a joint statement that approximately three months ago, the following terrorists were eliminated in a joint operation:
* Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip;
* Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio on Hamas’ political bureau and Hamas’ Labor Committee; and
* Sami Oudeh, Commander of Hamas’ General Security mechanism.
Israeli Air Force fighter pilots struck and eliminated the terrorists while they were hiding in a fortified and equipped underground compound in northern Gaza that was managed by senior members of Hamas’ General Security mechanism and functioned as a hideout for the Hamas leadership, led by Mushtaha.
The compound also served as a Hamas command and control center and enabled senior operatives to remain inside of it for extended periods of time.
Hamas did not announce the deaths of these terrorist leaders as it has done following previous eliminations in order to prevent loss of morale and functioning of its terror operatives.
Rawhi Mushtaha was one of Hamas’ most senior operatives and had a direct impact on decisions relating to Hamas’ force deployment.
Mushtaha was involved in military decisions while also acting as the head of Hamas Civil Governance in the Gaza Strip and holding the Prisoners Affairs Portfolio. He also formerly held the finance portfolio.
Alongside Yahya Sinwar, Mushtaha established Hamas’ General Security Mechanism. The two terrorists also served a prison sentence together in an Israeli jail. Mushtaha was Sinwar’s right-hand man and one of his closest associates.
Mushtaha was considered to be the most senior figure in the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip, and during the war maintained civil control of the Hamas regime while simultaneously engaging in terrorist activity against Israel.
On Saturday, under the guidance of IDF intelligence, the IAF struck terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center in the Gaza Strip embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ‘Ahmad al-Kurd’ School in central Gaza.
Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.
In the past three months, the 252nd Division troops have eliminated over 450 terrorists through airstrikes and close-quarters combat and have destroyed hundreds of terrorist infrastructure in the area.
Underground, the troops have located and destroyed an eight kilometer-long (five mile-long) network of underground tunnel routes.
Additionally, this week, during 14th Brigade operations, dozens of armed terrorists were identified in the area moving northward. The terrorists dispersed following artillery fire, airstrikes, and shell fire.
