The commander of Hamas's Shejaiya battalion, Wissam Farhat, has been killed during a collaborative operation involving the Shin Bet security agency, the Israel Defense Forces, and military intelligence. A Spokesperson for the IDF states that the militant was targeted and eliminated in an airstrike.
According to Israeli intelligence, Wissam Farhat planned, organized, and executed numerous terrorist attacks targeting Israeli military personnel and civilians within Israel's borders.
Farhat had been leading the Shejaiya battalion since 2010. During Operation Protective Edge, he and his fighters attacked an Israeli APC, resulting in the deaths of six Israeli servicemen: Staff Sgt. Oren Noach, Staff Sgt. Shahar Tase, Sgt. Ben Itzhak Oanounou, Sgt. Max Donald Steinberg, Staff Sgt. Nissim Sean Carmelli, and Staff Sgt. Daniel Pomerantz.
Farhat played a crucial role in orchestrating the attack on the pre-military school in Mevo Horon in 2002, resulting in the deaths of five Israelis. He was also responsible for the bus attack in Nahal Oz in 2011, which resulted in the death of an Israeli child.
In 1995, Farhat was arrested by Israeli security forces in connection with a terrorist plot and sentenced to ten years in prison. Upon his release, he returned to Gaza and involved himself in the production of rockets.
Wissam Farhat was actively involved in planning the October 7th attack, personally dispatching Hamas's elite Nukhba unit to the Nahal Oz kibbutz.
