On Thursday (3rd October), the Israeli security agencies confirmed that Rawhi Mushtaha, the de facto Prime Minister of the Gaza Strip, was killed in an Israeli strike three months ago. The IDF and Shin Bet gave this confirmation as the Iran-backed terror group, Hamas has not yet confirmed the death of its senior commander.
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Mushtaha was neutralised in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip three months ago. He died along with Hamas officials Sameh al-Siraj and Sami Odeh. While Siraj held the security portfolio in Hamas’s political bureau, and Odeh was the head of Hamas’ “general security mechanism.” The IDF confirmed that all three of them were killed in that airstrike.
Approximately 3 months ago, in a joint IDF and ISA strike in Gaza, the following terrorists were eliminated:
🔴Rawhi Mushtaha, the Head of the Hamas government in Gaza
🔴Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio on Hamas’ political bureau and Hamas’ Labor Committee
🔴Sami… pic.twitter.com/6xpH6tOOot— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 3, 2024
The Israeli strike targeted the Hamas commanders while they were hiding in a tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF stated that it had “precise intelligence” indicating they were in the tunnel. According to the military, the tunnel was “a fortified and equipped underground compound” that “served as a Hamas command and control center and enabled senior operatives to remain inside of it for extended periods of time.”
The IDF emphasised that Hamas was hiding its losses “to prevent loss of morale and functioning of its terror operatives.”
According to the IDF, Mushtaha was Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s “right-hand man and one of his closest associates.”
The IDF added that both Mushtaha and Sinwar served a prison sentence together in an Israeli jail, and later together established Hamas’s general security mechanism.
The Israeli military said, “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 terror activity against Israel.”
As per IDF, he was “one of Hamas’s most senior operatives, and had a direct impact on decisions relating to Hamas’s force deployment.” He 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.
Israel has been launching offensive military action including ground incursions in Gaza and now in Southern Lebanon to ‘dismantle’ the terror network of Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively, in the wake of the 7th October terror attack in which 1,200 Israeli and foreign nationals lost their lives and thousands were injured. In its year-long counter-terror actions, Israel has killed Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah along with many senior commanders of the Iran-backed Islamic terror groups.