Israeli military forces assassinated senior Hamas operative Ayman Nofal on Tuesday afternoon in Bureij, in Gaza, using intelligence provided by the Shin Bet.
Nofal was the commander of the Hamas Central Brigade in Gaza, and the former head of the Hamas Military Intelligence division, in addition to directing rocket fire launches at Israeli civilians.
The senior terror official was also involved in the development and production of various weapons and took part in the planning of the operation in which then-IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted on Jun 25, 2006.
Shalit was held captive by Hamas for more than five years, until the Israeli government agreed to swap more than a thousand imprisoned terrorists, including many with Jewish blood on their hands, in exchange for his release.
Hamas has also held captive the bodies of two fallen IDF soldiers, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, and two live Israelis, both with serious mental health issues, since 2014.
The terror group and its allies in Gaza are now also holding between 200 and 250 additional hostages in the wake of the October 7 invasion of southern Israel that launched the Swords of Iron War.
