IDF says strike killed Nukhba operative who ran a Turkish aid group's Gaza branch

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that it had killed Saqr Nabil Musa Qaisi, whom it described as a member of Hamas's Nukhba force, in a strike in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF spokesperson, Qaisi crossed into Israeli territory during the October 7 attack, and the military framed him as an armed operative who was presenting himself as a humanitarian worker.

The army also said Qaisi had been the director of Deniz Feneri, a Turkish aid organisation. The Times of Israel reported the military's statement that the group calls itself a humanitarian body while in practice keeping links both to senior Hamas leaders and to figures within the Turkish leadership. Turkey's government and Deniz Feneri are not quoted in any of the reports.

Khan Younis or Deir al-Balah

The reports do not agree on where the strike took place. The IDF statement and the Times of Israel, which relied on it, place the strike in the Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip. Two Hebrew-language outlets put it elsewhere: the Telegram channel Abu Ali Express called Qaisi the latest person killed in Deir al-Balah, and News.co.il said he died when a car was struck in Deir al-Balah earlier in the day. Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah are separate cities in the Gaza Strip. This article does not resolve the discrepancy; the military's own statement names Khan Younis.

What Nukhba means

Nukhba is an Arabic word meaning "elite", and Israelis use it as shorthand for Hamas's commando units. The Times of Israel described it as the group's elite force, and its members are the fighters Israel identifies as having led the assault on Israeli communities and army positions on October 7, 2023. Since then the IDF has regularly announced strikes on people it says belonged to the force, often emphasising that they personally entered Israel that day. Ynet's news alerts described Qaisi as one more Nukhba operative who took part in that attack.

Ynet also reported that over the previous couple of days the army had killed a commander in Hamas's military wing and an operative from its observation network, placing this strike within a run of similar announcements.

The Turkish aid group

The most specific part of the IDF's account concerns Deniz Feneri. The military's post on X said that throughout the war Qaisi advanced militant activity alongside his charity role. Joe Truzman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington research group, summarised the IDF as accusing the organisation of employing Hamas operatives and passing money to the group under humanitarian cover. Truzman added that his own review of Qaisi's background found strong evidence that he was involved with the organisation, a finding about his link to the charity rather than about his Hamas membership.

Ynet's alert similarly described him as running an association that supported Hamas financially. Ynet's fuller report said, citing the army, that he was in contact with Turkish officials and with senior Hamas figures based in Turkey.

Abu Ali Express, an Israeli Telegram channel that follows Arabic-language media, went further. It described Qaisi as the official representative and manager of Deniz Feneri's Gaza branch, called the organisation close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and said it has given senior Hamas officials such as Khaled Mashaal and Sami Abu Zuhri a platform at its events. The channel also said Qaisi preached as an imam in mosques in the southern part of the Strip. These details come from that channel alone and are not in the IDF statement.

Why the charity claim matters

Israel has long argued that Hamas uses civilian and charitable structures in Gaza to finance and shelter its activity, and Turkey has been one of the governments most critical of Israel's conduct of the war while hosting Hamas political figures. An IDF claim that the head of a Turkish charity's Gaza operation was also a Hamas fighter touches on both issues. The IDF's statement presents this as established; the other reports attribute it to the military.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports gives independent confirmation from Hamas, from Gaza's health authorities or from Deniz Feneri that Qaisi was killed, or a response to the IDF's description of him. The location is disputed between Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. The reports do not say whether anyone else was killed or injured in the strike, what evidence the IDF holds for his participation in the October 7 attack, or what specific activity he is alleged to have carried out during the war. They do not say whether Turkish authorities have commented, or what funding, if any, the IDF says passed from the charity to Hamas.