In a joint operation of the Israeli General Security Service (GSS) and the IDF, senior figures in Hamas’ “General Staff Forum” were eliminated in a targeted killing, including the commander of the Gaza City Brigade, head of Hamas’ cyber and missile improvement directorate and the head of the weapons manufacturing array.
The four senior officials killed in the attack:
- Bassem Issa – Commander of the Gaza City Brigade. A senior Hamas military operative. Head of the Hamas Gaza Brigade, since 2017. Over the years he was involved in numerous attacks and also served as a senior operative in the organization’s weapons production array. Commanded Hamas forces during various combat rounds with Israel. His death will have a significant impact on the functioning of the brigade and its military wing.
- Jama’a Tahla – Head of the Cyber Directorate and leader of the Hamas terrorist organization’s missile improvement project. Holds the research and development portfolio in Hamas. Tahla is Mohammed Deif’s right-hand man and the main leader of Hamas’ weapons build-up program. His death will deliver a significant blow to Hamas’s weapons build-up project.
- Gamal Zbeda – Head of the development and projects department in Hamas’ weapons manufacturing headquarters. He is a doctor of mechanical engineering specializing in aerodynamics, trained in a variety of technological fields, and serves as a major and significant center of knowledge in Hamas’ weapons manufacturing headquarters. He is one of Hamas’ senior figures in the research and weapons development program, promoting major projects within the program.
- Khasem Khatib – Head of Hamas’ weapons development engineering department. He also serves as deputy director of the weapons production system.
Other senior operatives were killed in the attack, during which Hamas’ main weapons R&D facility was destroyed, together with a large amount of equipment.:
- Sami Radwan, head of the technical department of military intelligence.
- Wallid Shamali – head of the industrial equipment department in the weapons manufacturing array.
In addition, about ten other operatives from Hamas’ manufacturing and organization’s R&D network were killed.
