Ali Qadi, a senior Hamas militant, in the ongoing war bewteen Israel and Gaza, has been killed by Israeli airstrike, Israeli Defense Forces has said.
Qadi, according to the IDF, led a unit of commando forces that killed in last week’s attack on Southern Israel.
The 37-year-old unit commander in the elite Hamas force, was killed on Saturday.
In an official statement, the IDF announced, “Aircraft killed Ali Qadi, a company commander of the Hamas ‘Nukhba’ (elite) commando force.”
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The Israeli-Hamas conflict has been escalating since last week, with both sides engaged in intense hostilities.
Ali Qadi had a significant history, having been one of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in 2011 in exchange for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by Hamas in 2006.
Notably, Qadi had previously been arrested by Israel in 2005 in connection with the death of an Israeli operative for the Shin Bet internal security agency.