Israel Army claims that it has killed the commander of an elite Hamas unit responsible for the 10/7 attacks, Ali Qadi
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed to have assassinated Ali Qadi, the Hamas leader who organized the strikes on October 7 that killed over 1,400 Israelis and targeted the southern Israeli villages.
The Hamas ‘Nukhba’ (elite) commando group is led by Ali Qadi, according to a statement from the IDF. Based on information inputs obtained by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Information Directorate, they claimed that he was killed in a drone attack.
“Air unit planes assassinated Ali Qadi, a leader in the Nukhba unit of the terrorist group Hamas, who organized a terrorist strike on the settlements around Gaza last weekend, on the advice of the Shin Bet and Amman. Ali was detained in 2005 after kidnapping and killing Israeli citizens, and he was released as part of the Gilad Shalit agreement, according to a statement by the Israeli Air Force on X (previously Twitter).
According to the IDF, Qadi was previously detained by Israeli authorities in 2005 on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Israeli citizens before being freed and sent to the Gaza Strip as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap in 2011.
Israel and Hamas made an agreement in 2011 to swap prisoners in return for Gilad Shalit. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years. Then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian detainees in return for his freedom.
Israeli soldiers invaded the Gaza Strip in reaction to Palestinian terrorists capturing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after they carried out a cross-border incursion that year, sparking the start of the 2006 confrontation between Israel and Gaza.
A top military leader who oversaw the terrorist group’s aerial activities in Gaza City was also killed by Israeli troops during airstrikes. Fighter planes attacked a Hamas operational hub where the organization conducted its “aerial activity” in the previous day, killing Murad Abu Murad, according to the military.
