Israel Kills Hamas Commander Involved In Hamas Atrocities
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s military said Thursday it killed Hamas Commander Mohammad Abu Itiwi, who participated in the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel while working for the U.N. aid agency in the Gaza Strip.
He was eliminated in a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel’s domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, Israeli officials said, apparently in Gaza.
Itiwi’s name was included in a list of at least nine employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) with ties to Hamas and other armed groups, Israeli officials said.
The U.N., after an investigation, admitted in August that nine UNRWA staff were possibly involved in the Oct. 7 attacks and fired them.
Itiwi, a “Nukhba commander in the Al Bureij Battalion of Hamas’s Central Camps Brigade,” was directly involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians, Israel’s military announced Thursday.
About 1,200 people, including babies and the women they raped, were killed by Hamas fighters, who also abducted some 251 persons, according to Israeli authorities.
LEADING ATTACK
“The terrorist [Itiwi] led the attack on the bomb shelter on Route 232 in the area of Re’im in southern Israel,” October 7 last year, Israeli sources said.
That violence, described as the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust, or Shoah, triggered Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Nearly 43,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to Hamas-run authorities who do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israel says nearly half of those reported killed are “Hamas terrorists,” while ordinary residents who were killed or wounded have been used by Hamas as “human shields.”
The IDF explained that “Throughout the Israel-Hamas War, Abu Itiwi directed and carried out numerous attacks on IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip.”
There was no immediate comment by Hamas, which has been dramatically reduced in strength following numerous high-profile assassinations by Israel.