JERUSALEM/GAZA - Israel's military said on Thursday it had killed a Hamas commander and his deputy during their attempts to flee a tunnel in southern Gaza.
The military said in a statement that Muhammad Jawad Muhammad al-Bawab, commander of Hamas' Eastern Rafah Battalion, his deputy Ismail Kanaan Abd al-Hay Abu Labdeh, and two other members of the battalion were killed as they tried to emerge from underground infrastructure in eastern Rafah.
It added that "an intelligence analysis" confirmed their deaths.
Dozens of Hamas militants remain trapped inside tunnels in Rafah. Israeli forces and the Shin Bet said they have killed more than 40 Hamas militants who attempted to exit the tunnel.
Despite a ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out daily demolitions of buildings and infrastructure, raids and strikes, killing at least 360 people and wounding 923 others in Gaza since Oct 11, after the ceasefire took effect, according to the Gaza health authorities.
Talks on return of last hostage's body
Also on Thursday, Israel sent a delegation to Cairo for talks with mediators aimed at securing the "immediate return" of the body of the last remaining hostage held in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
The delegation was led by Gal Hirsch, Israel's coordinator for hostages and missing persons, and included representatives from the military, the Shin Bet security agency and the Mossad intelligence agency.
"Following the discussion, it was agreed to focus on an intensive and immediate effort to fully complete the hostage-recovery mission," the office said, without elaborating.
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Earlier Thursday, Israel said the remains returned by Hamas a day earlier were those of Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai farmworker killed in Kibbutz Be'eri during the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack. His body was taken to Gaza.
The latest handover, leaving only one hostage still in Gaza, moves both sides closer to concluding the first phase of the ceasefire.
Anti-Hamas Gaza militia leader killed
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Yasser Abu Shabab, the anti-Hamas clan leader in the Gaza Strip, was killed by unknown gunmen.
According to anonymous security officials cited by Israeli media, Abu Shabab was shot on Thursday in southern Gaza and later succumbed to his injuries. Officials suggested he was caught in clashes between rival clans in Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Gaza authorities.
Abu Shabab, 31, was the leader of a local armed clan in Gaza known as the "Popular Forces," an organization that had emerged as a local partner to Israel against Hamas in parts of southern Gaza.
Israeli military secretary appointed as new Mossad chief
Separately, Netanyahu decided to appoint his current military secretary, Roman Gofman, as the next head of the Mossad spy agency.
Gofman is set to succeed current Mossad chief David Barnea, whose five-year term ends in June 2026, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
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Gofman has held several senior military positions before being appointed as Netanyahu's military secretary in May 2024. He was severely wounded during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, that triggered the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
