BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 22. The Israeli military says it killed a Hamas commander in an air strike on a house in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip earlier today.
In a statement posted on X, the military identified the man as Sharif al-Hasnayat, whom it described as a platoon commander in the Deir el-Balah Battalion of Hamas’s armed wing.
According to the Israeli military, al-Hasnayat posed an “immediate threat” to Israel at the time he was targeted.
The military also alleged that he had been involved in efforts to restore Hamas’s underground infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Israel did not provide further details about the specific activities it attributed to al-Hasnayat or the circumstances that led it to conclude that he represented an immediate threat.
The Israeli statement followed earlier reports of an air strike targeting a home in Deir el-Balah.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas regarding al-Hasnayat’s role or his reported death.
