KHAN YOUNIS (The Thursday Times) — Hamas has confirmed that Samir Abu Younis, the commander of its armed wing’s Rafah brigade, was killed in an Israeli air strike in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, two days after Israel struck Nasser hospital in the same city.
Israel’s military and the Shin Bet security agency said in a joint statement that they had targeted a senior commander in Hamas’s military wing in a drone strike in Khan Younis on Saturday. Hamas sources first said Abu Younis had been killed, and the group later confirmed his death and said his funeral would be held in Khan Younis on Sunday afternoon.
Abu Younis, 53, had been a member of the Qassam Brigades since 1991 and held several senior operational roles in Rafah before leading the brigade there, according to accounts of his career published after his death.
Strike in a crowded camp
Medics said the strike hit the al-Mawasi area, a coastal strip crowded with tents for displaced families, and wounded two other people. The casualties were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, medical staff said.
Israel once designated al-Mawasi a humanitarian zone, but it has struck the area repeatedly since.
The strike came two days after an Israeli attack on Nasser hospital on Thursday, in which the military said it had targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, whom it described as the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade. That strike killed six people, Gaza’s civil defence agency said, and drew condemnation from Pakistan and 16 other countries. Read more.
A ceasefire under strain
The ceasefire that took effect on October 11, 2025, halted major fighting but has neither stopped Israeli attacks nor secured Hamas’s disarmament.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli attacks had killed 16 people and wounded 68 over the previous 48 hours. It says at least 1,643 Palestinians have been killed and 5,964 wounded since the ceasefire began. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period.
The ministry also said the number of deaths linked to the cold had risen to 11 this winter, as displaced families ride out heavy rain in flooded tents. On Saturday the European Union urged Israel to reopen all crossings into Gaza. Read more.
