Israel’s military and Shin Bet killed Samir Mahmoud Hassan Abu Younis, the 53-year-old commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade, in a targeted overnight airstrike in southern Gaza on Saturday, both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas confirmed Sunday.
. Abu Younis had held the post for roughly two months after succeeding Nael Abu Obeid, who was killed in a September 15 strike. Abu Obeid himself had replaced Mohammad Sabaneh (also referred to as Shabana), killed in May 2025. The killing marks the third successive Rafah Brigade commander eliminated by Israel
The strike occurred in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, a zone that has sheltered large numbers of displaced Palestinians.
Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades said Abu Younis joined the group in 1991, previously served as a prisoner in Israeli jails, rose through senior operational roles including deputy brigade commander and head of the Tel al-Sultan Battalion, and was “among the most prominent commanders who participated in planning and overseeing” the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. His funeral was held Sunday afternoon in Khan Younis.
The IDF and Shin Bet described Abu Younis as a central figure who directed attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers and worked to restore the brigade’s and Hamas’s military capabilities after heavy losses in the war. They said steps were taken beforehand to reduce the risk to uninvolved civilians. Palestinian medics reported additional people wounded in the attack. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the campaign against Hamas leaders would continue “until Gaza is demilitarized and there is no Hamas,” adding that another commander had joined “his predecessors in the depths of hell.”
The operation comes days after an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 12. The IDF said it targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, and other militants it claimed were operating from the hospital complex. Palestinian officials reported at least six dead, including surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira and a 13-year-old boy awaiting surgery, with dozens injured. The strike severely damaged the surgery unit and put key departments out of service. Doctors Without Borders condemned the attack, stressing that hospitals must be protected under international humanitarian law. The IDF has not confirmed whether Abu Ismail was killed.
These incidents highlight the limited impact of the nominal ceasefire that took effect more than a year ago under a U.S.-brokered 20-point plan. Israel has continued targeted operations against senior Hamas figures even as Hamas quickly replaces them and retains influence in areas of Gaza not under Israeli control. Palestinian health authorities say more than 1,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce.
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The Board of Peace, established by the Trump administration with United Nations backing to oversee the plan, has made little substantive progress. Discussions continue on a civilian police force under a Palestinian technocratic committee and an international stabilization force, but the committee has not entered Gaza and the force has not deployed. Israel maintains that large-scale reconstruction and rubble clearance can begin only after Hamas fully disarms. Seasonal rains have already flooded tens of thousands of tents housing nearly two million displaced Palestinians, intensifying the humanitarian crisis as winter sets in.
The pattern of rapid succession in Hamas’s southern command structure and persistent Israeli strikes underscores how far the parties remain from the plan’s core goals of demilitarization, new governance, and lasting stability.