Gaza: the Israeli army says it killed a senior Hamas figure who held hostage Omer Shem Tov, with six more dead in Khan Younis

The Israeli army and the Shin Bet internal security service announced on the evening of Wednesday, November 4, that they killed seven fighters of Palestinian organisations in a series of strikes in the Gaza Strip earlier in the week. Among them, according to the joint announcement, was Jamal Abu Said, head of the operations section of Hamas’s military intelligence service, who held Israeli Omer Shem Tov hostage during the war. These are claims by the Israeli side.

The man who, per the army, held Shem Tov

Abu Said was killed, the statement says, in an air strike in Gaza City on Sunday, November 1. The Israeli army also released video of the strike. Its announcement attributes to him a series of senior posts in Hamas: he was responsible for training Hamas fighters outside the Strip, had commanded an anti-tank battalion and was in charge of military specialities in the Central Camps Brigade. He also handled the organisation’s relations with various countries and was regarded, the army says, as an important source of expertise inside the organisation.

The army accuses him of having advanced throughout the war, and especially in recent weeks, plans for attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians and of seeking to rebuild the organisation’s capabilities, systematically violating the ceasefire. Shem Tov was abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023 and released on February 22, 2025 after more than 500 days in captivity. Abu Said is the second person involved in holding Shem Tov to be killed this year: in June the Israeli army and Shin Bet eliminated Shabai Abu Hasna, a Nukhba fighter who appeared next to Shem Tov at the staged ceremony of his release.

Six more dead in Khan Younis

The other strikes took place in the Khan Younis area. On Sunday three members of Hamas’s military wing were killed, cell leader Mohammed Zakaria al-Jamal, Saher Mohammed Zaarab, whom the army calls a Nukhba company commander, and Mohammed Amin al-Namas, as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper Mohammed Ali Abu Saar. On Monday, November 2, two more strikes killed Mahmoud Jihad Mohammed Kafa, head of a Hamas sniper team, and Asaad Suleiman Salman Qasta, a member of the Army of Islam group.

The other side gives a different picture. Gaza’s Interior Ministry had announced five police officers killed on duty in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, and four of the names on that list match men included in the Israeli announcement. Hamas had condemned the November 1 strike, accusing Israel of hitting police on duty and calling on the ceasefire mediators to intervene.

A ceasefire on paper

The strikes continue despite the ceasefire in force since October 10, 2025. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports 1,599 Palestinians killed and 5,774 wounded by Israeli attacks since it began, and on Thursday, November 5 local sources reported another death from a drone strike on a tent west of az-Zawayda, in the centre of the Strip. In October the Israeli army announced the death of a Nukhba cell commander who stormed the Re’im base, and at the end of the month the UN human rights office warned that Israel wants to extend its military zone to 70% of the Strip.