Top Hamas commanders who led the murderous rampage against Israel are wiped out by airstrikes

Two top Hamas commanders who led the terror group’s murderous rampage against Israel have been killed in airstrikes, it was claimed yesterday.

Murad Abu Murad, who is believed to have masterminded the deadly paraglider assault by Hamas gunmen last weekend, was killed by a bomb targeting the headquarters of the terror group’s air activities.

Meanwhile, Ali Qadhi, a commander in the ruthless ‘Nukhba’ commando unit, was killed in a drone strike. 

Officials revealed a black-and-white video of a massive explosion engulfing a Hamas base where he was said to be located.

The elimination of two of Hamas’s most senior leaders is a boost to the Israeli government’s vow to wipe the terror group ‘off the face of the Earth’. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week declared: ‘Every Hamas terrorist is a dead man.’

Since then, Israel’s defence forces have prioritised strikes on Hamas commanders and officials as well as its intelligence and financial infrastructure within Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion.

According to the Israeli security forces, Murad Abu Murad ‘took a big part in directing terrorists during the massacre’ last weekend, which began with a barrage of missiles before gunmen flew into Israel on paragliders just after dawn.

Confirming the strike against him on X, formerly Twitter, the Israeli Air Force said: ‘During the last day, fighter jets of the air force attacked the operational headquarters of the terrorist organisation Hamas, from where the organisation’s aerial activities were managed.

‘During the attack, Murad Abu Murad, the head of the air formation in Gaza City who took a large part and directed terrorists in the murderous attack on Saturday, was killed.’ 

Ali Qadhi was a notorious terrorist who was arrested by Israel in 2005 for being part of a Hamas cell which kidnapped and murdered Israeli civilian Sasson Nouriel.

Israel’s defence forces have prioritised strikes on Hamas commanders and officials as well as its intelligence and financial infrastructure within Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion. Pictured, Israeli military vehicles and soldiers from an artillery unit gather near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip

Nouriel was filmed by his captors reciting a message confirming his kidnapping by Hamas and requesting the release of multiple Palestinian convicts. 

He was later taken to a landfill site and stabbed to death. Despite the horrific crime, Ali Qadhi was released in 2011 and deported to the Gaza Strip as part of a controversial prisoner exchange. 

He was one of 1,027 mainly Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners exchanged for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped and held captive for five years.

Israel’s air force announced that Ali Qadhi was eliminated with the help of intelligence agency Shin Bet. The Israel Air Force said terrorist operatives from Ali Qadhi’s Nukhba unit ‘were one of the leading forces that led the infiltration into Israel last Saturday’.

Meanwhile, Israel’s feared intelligence agencies were this weekend attempting to pinpoint the location of Yehya Sinwar, the de facto ruler of Gaza who is believed to be the overall architect of the attack against Israel.

Sinwar, 62, who lives in the city of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, masterminded previous terrorist operations against Israel, including attacks in 2021 that led to a two-week conflict. 

The Israelis bombed his house later that year, but missed him. Before becoming the head of Hamas in Gaza, Sinwar earned the nickname ‘Butcher of Gaza’ because of the way he tortured and killed informants. 

He was imprisoned for 22 years for killing two Israeli soldiers – but like Ali Qadhi he was released in the 2011 prisoner exchange.

Israel’s air force also posted a video yesterday showing the dropping of thousands of leaflets into north Gaza from the air, telling 1.1 million citizens to leave for their own safety.