The commander, identified as Hassan Mahmoud Hassan Hussein, served as a company commander in Hamas’s Bureij Battalion. According to the military, Hussein led the brutal assault on a roadside bomb shelter where Israeli civilians had sought refuge after fleeing the Nova music festival.
During the attack, 16 people were murdered inside the shelter, while four others were kidnapped and taken into Gaza. Seven survivors were later rescued by Israeli forces. The IDF noted that Hussein was also involved in additional assaults on Israeli troops during the ongoing war in Gaza.
“Hussein directly orchestrated the killings and kidnappings from the Re’im shelter, one of the most horrific scenes of the October 7 atrocities,” the IDF said in its statement. The joint announcement from the military and Shin Bet emphasized that his death represents a significant operational achievement against Hamas’s elite Nukhba unit.
The IDF further recalled that Hussein carried out the Re’im attack alongside another Nukhba commander, Muhammad Abu Attawi, who was killed in an Israeli strike in October 2024. Attawi’s death was seen at the time as a blow to Hamas’s operational leadership, and Hussein’s elimination marks the removal of yet another figure tied to the October 7 massacre.
Israeli officials have repeatedly highlighted the attack near Re’im as one of the darkest moments of the Hamas-led assault, in which thousands of terrorists stormed Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages into Gaza.
The killing of Hussein comes as the war enters its 723rd day, with Israel continuing its campaign to dismantle Hamas’s military and leadership structures across the Strip. The IDF has carried out targeted strikes on senior commanders while also engaging in ground operations aimed at destroying Hamas’s tunnel networks and weapons facilities.
Military officials said the strike was part of ongoing efforts to target operatives directly involved in past and present attacks against Israel. “Those who planned and carried out the October 7 massacre will be held accountable,” the IDF stressed.