Overview
- The IDF says troops in central Gaza struck an armed Hamas cell moving toward the Yellow Line, the Gaza-Israel boundary, to attack Israeli forces.
- The operation, run by Southern Command with ISA support, was based on intelligence that identified the cell as an imminent threat.
- The army named Ali Sami Mohammad Shakra as a Nukhba platoon commander it says joined the October 7 raid and the Re'im bomb-shelter abductions.
- Officials also named Mohammad Mabhouh and Mohammad Fuad Jaser Sayyid, saying both helped hold hostage Avinatan Or, and they released a photo said to show Sayyid with Or in a tunnel.
- These details come from official military statements that also cited other Nukhba members killed, including men tied to rocket launches.