The IDF announced the death of Rawhi Mushtaha, head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
“Mushtaha, alongside Yahya Sinwar, established Hamas’s General Security Mechanism,” the military stated. They served a prison sentence together in an Israeli jail. Mushtaha was considered to be the most senior figure in the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip and, during the war, maintained civil control of the Hamas regime while simultaneously engaging in terrorist activity against Israel. Mushtaha was Sinwar’s right-hand man and one of his closest associates.”
The IDF also noted that Mushtaha had been one of Hamas’s most senior operatives and was a key decision-maker in how the terror organization deployed its fighters and assets.
Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio on Hamas’s political bureau and Labor Committee, and Sami Oudeh, the commander of Hamas’s General Security Mechanism, were killed alongside Mushtaha, the military reported.
Hamas reportedly attempted to conceal eliminations to preserve moral
According to the IDF, the three senior Hamas operatives were killed in an airstrike around three months ago, but the Gazan terror organization refrained from making an announcement on the matter at the time to prevent morale loss among its fighters.
The military reported that the Israel Air Force airstrike that eliminated the Hamas leaders was conducted according to IDF and Shin Bet intelligence and that the three had been hiding inside “a fortified and equipped underground compound in the northern Gaza Strip.”
The IDF added that the compound had been a Hamas command and control center and had been equipped so that Hamas terrorists could remain within for extended periods.
The subterranean compound had reportedly served to shelter Hamas leadership, chief among whom was Mushtaha.
The Hamas leader “was involved in military decisions while also acting as the Head of Hamas Civil Governance in the Gaza Strip and holding the Prisoners Affairs Portfolio. He also formerly held the finance portfolio,” the military added.
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