Rawhi Mushtaha, Hamas govt head in Gaza, ‘eliminated’ in airstrike: Israeli military

The Israeli military announced Thursday that it had “eliminated” Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, along with two senior security officials, during airstrikes carried out three months ago.

According to an Israeli military statement, the strike targeted an underground compound in northern Gaza, which served as a command and control centre.

Mushtaha and commanders Sameh al-Siraj and Sami Oudeh were reportedly taking refuge there when the strike hit.

“Mushtaha was one of Hamas’ most senior operatives and had a direct impact on decisions relating to Hamas’ force deployment,” said the military in a statement.

Sameh al-Siraj held the security portfolio for Hamas’s political bureau.

Mushtaha was described as a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader, who is believed to have helped mastermind the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war. Sinwar is thought to be alive and in hiding within Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Separately, Hamas media and medics said Israel had killed Abdel-Aziz Salha, a West Bank Hamas militant, in an airstrike earlier on Thursday. Salha, jailed for life for his role in the 2000 lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah, was released in a 2011 prisoner swap. Medics said Salha was killed in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians inside Al-Aklouk School in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza.

The 2000 killings took place in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where a mob set upon the two Israeli reservists who had been seized at a Palestinian checkpoint and taken to a police station, choking and beating them to death.