IDF says strike in Gaza City killed Hamas commander who held seven hostages

The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that it had killed a commander in Hamas' military wing in a strike in the Gaza City area over the weekend, naming him as Mahmoud Abd al-Fattah Awad. In a statement issued by the IDF spokesperson, the military said Awad had taken part in holding seven Israeli civilians hostage in an underground tunnel in the Gaza City area during the war.

The military identified the seven as Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Doron Steinbrecher, Naama Levy, Ziv Berman, Omri Miran and Eitan Mor. The Times of Israel reported that the army also said Awad had recently planned and advanced attacks on soldiers and Israeli civilians and worked to rebuild Hamas capabilities, which the military described as happening "in systematic violation of the ceasefire."

Who announced it, and when

The announcement came from the IDF spokesperson's unit, the branch of the Israeli military responsible for public statements, and was distributed simultaneously on the army's Telegram channel and its account on X. Haaretz reported that the military said the strike took place last weekend, several days before the killing was made public. Israeli military announcements of this kind are frequently delayed while the army works to confirm the identity of the person struck.

The Hebrew-language news service Ynet carried the announcement as a breaking alert, reporting that the army said it had killed a Hamas commander who had held seven hostages in captivity. The military also released a photograph of Awad alongside the statement.

The seven named hostages

The names released by the military are among the most widely recognised in Israel. Gilboa, Ariev, Steinbrecher and Levy were held after being seized in the Hamas-led assault on Israel that began the war, and their names were repeated for months in the campaign by hostage families for a deal to bring the captives home. Berman, Miran and Mor were likewise named repeatedly in that campaign.

The military's account places all seven in a single underground tunnel in the Gaza City area under the same group of guards. Hamas' tunnel network beneath Gaza has been used both for military movement and, according to Israeli accounts throughout the war, for holding hostages, which is one reason Israeli forces have described the network as a central target.

The ceasefire reference

The wording used by the IDF, that Awad had acted "in systematic violation of the ceasefire," indicates that the strike took place during a period in which a truce arrangement was in force. The military did not, in the material released, set out what specific conduct it considered a breach beyond the general description of planning attacks and restoring Hamas capabilities. Hamas has not responded to the Israeli claim in any of the reports reviewed here.

A second announcement the same day

The Times of Israel also reported that the army separately confirmed killing the head of Hamas' finance department, Muhammad Abu Alwan, in an airstrike in southern Gaza the previous day. The military said Abu Alwan directed the transfer of funds for the organisation. The two announcements were made in the same batch of military statements, though they concern different strikes in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

Gaza City, where the strike on Awad was reported, is in the northern part of the Strip and was the focus of major Israeli ground operations during the war. Southern Gaza, where the military said Abu Alwan was killed, is a separate operational area.

An unverified claim circulating alongside the reports

Joe Truzman, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, wrote on X that Awad appeared to have received aid from an organisation he named as the Indonesia Berbagi Foundation, and said the group should be asked about it. Truzman did not publish supporting documentation in the post, the claim does not appear in the IDF statement, and the organisation has not commented in any of the material reviewed.

What the reports do not say

The material does not give the exact date of the strike, only that it occurred over the weekend. It does not say how Awad's identity was confirmed, what his specific rank or unit within Hamas' military wing was, or whether anyone else was killed or injured in the same strike. It does not state where the seven hostages were held relative to one another over time, or for how long Awad guarded them.

There is no independent confirmation of the killing from Gaza health authorities or from Hamas in the reports available, and every element of the account, including the identification of Awad's role and his link to the seven hostages, rests on the Israeli military's statement.