IDF reveals five Hamas commanders killed in a single airstrike

Israel has revealed that five Hamas commanders who took a chummy picture together have all died in airstrikes, following Israel's blitzing retaliation against the terror group. 

The IDF released a photo of 11 top-level Hamas commanders sitting and smiling in a long and narrow room, with plates of fruit and drink on the tables in front of them. 

An IDF spokesperson revealed that of the 11 men, five are confirmed to have died in airstrikes launched as part of its ground offensive into Gaza, which has seen massive artillery and aerial bombardment in the enclave in revenge for Hamas' October 7 incursion.

The IDF did not say when or where the picture was taken but said those in it were from the Northern Gaza Brigade, which is the second largest brigade in Hamas.

In a statement, the IDF said: 'IDF forces under the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet killed the brigade commander Ahmed Jandor and Wael Rajab, as well as other senior officials.

'These included other senior figures as well as the head of military formation and the person responsible for observation in the north Gaza Strip.'

The IDF said that Jandor and Rajab were responsible for terrorist activities in the northern Gaza strip, adding that significant members of the Gaza City branch of Hamas were also eliminated in the strike. 

Jandor was a member of Hamas' military council, and was said to have had a large role in directing the terror group's activity in the north of the Gaza Strip. 

Rajab, meanwhile, was an operations officer in Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade. He once served as head of police in northern Gaza, and the commander of Hamas’s Beit Lahiya battalion.

Rajab recorded himself walking through the tunnels beneath Gaza with a stark look on his face, footage of which was released by the IDF. 

Along with Jandor and Rajab, the airstrike killed the leader of the brigade’s aid battalion, the head of military formation and the officer responsible for observations in the north. 

Other Hamas commanders in the photo were also identified. 

Ibrahim Biari was the Hamas commander of Central Jabaliya Battalion, stationed in Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, and was killed on November 1 after Israeli fighter jets struck the region. 

Biari oversaw all the Hamas operations in northern Gaza Strip since the militant group started its ground offensive. 

He was also believed to be involved in multiple attacks on Israel in the past decades.

Also in the photo was the head of Hamas' air operations, Murad Abu Murad. 

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Murad was killed less than a week after Hamas' incursion into Israel. Overnight airstrikes killed him on October 13. 

He is said to have played a large role in the incursion, which saw terrorists swoop into Israel on hang gliders before killing 1,200 people. 

The bloody conflict between Hamas and Israel continues to rage on. 

Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hamas in southern Gaza on Wednesday after reaching the heart of the city of Khan Younis, forcing Palestinian civilians to seek refuge elsewhere as the number of safe areas decreases.

Israeli warplanes also bombarded targets across the densely populated coastal territory in one of the heaviest phases of fighting in the two months since Israel began its military campaign to eliminate the Palestinian militant group.

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Palestinian medics said hospitals were overflowing with dead and wounded, many of them women and children, and supplies were running out. 

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people driven out of the north were seeking shelter in the dwindling number of places designated as safe areas by Israel.

After largely gaining control of northern Gaza, Israeli troops and tanks pushed further south and encircled Khan Younis in the south after a week-long truce collapsed last week.

Israel said its forces had struck hundreds of targets, including a militant cell near a school in the north. Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said combat was fierce.

Residents said Israeli bombing intensified overnight, killing and wounding an unspecified number of people, and that tanks were battling Palestinian militants north and east of Khan Younis.

Tanks were stationed on the edge of the Khan Younis refugee camp, not far from the house of Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yehya Al-Sinwar, they said. It was unclear whether anyone was there.