Israel Targets Hamas Commanders, Fighters Amid Reports of Terrorist Regrouping in Gaza
IDF recovers body of missing soldier from Lebanon after 44 years.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a series of strikes against Hamas leadership and fighters amid reports of renewed terrorist activity in Gaza. “The IDF announced on Wednesday that the Air Force struck two Hamas commanders, one of whom participated in the October 7th Massacre, in Nuseirat,” the Jerusalem Post reported. “The IDF noted that it later struck a Hamas commander in the Tuffah area of Gaza, and that both of the terrorists planned to attack soldiers in the Strip.”
🚨 Another IDF strike a short time ago on the Gaza City Municipality Promenade. This is the second attack in the last hour in the Strip. pic.twitter.com/zFqTpL2RjH
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) August 19, 2026
In its latest strike, the IDF targeted a Hamas commander who took part in the October 7 massacre. “A short while ago, the IDF struck a commander in Hamas’ military wing in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip,” the IDF announced on Wednesday. “The terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the October 7th Massacre.”
Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military confirmed the elimination of “four Nukhba commanders from the Beit Lahia battalion in the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization.”
The slain terrorists include “Samed Samir Harb Abu Habal, a Nukbah platoon commander who infiltrated Israeli territory during the October 7th Massacre,” the military disclosed.
🔴ELIMINATED: 4 Nukhba commanders from the Beit Lahia battalion in Hamas’ military wing, in the Al-Shati area in Gaza.
The terrorists were all involved in advancing terror attacks against IDF troops. Additionally, one of them infiltrated Israel during the October 7 Massacre. pic.twitter.com/0vQXAdiTWF
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 19, 2026
In a subsequent air raid, the IDF struck “a commander from the Hamas terrorist organization” in Gaza City. He was planning ” to carry out terror attacks against IDF troops,” the military noted.
🚨 BREAKING: Two Israeli strikes are reportedly underway simultaneously in Gaza.
A source told Al-Hadath that the IDF targeted a senior figure in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian reports say an Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas police position in Gaza City, with 7 reported killed.… pic.twitter.com/YHggskZP0F
— גיא עזריאל Guy Azriel | Diplomatic Correspondent (@GuyAz) August 19, 2026
On Tuesday, the IDF struck a gathering of senior Hamas terror operatives and fighters, including another commander who participated in the October 7 massacre. The military on Tuesday revealed that it “struck a meeting of Nukhba commanders, including a company commander, three platoon commanders, and several additional terrorists.”
“The terrorists advanced terror attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF statement added. “One of the terrorists also infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the October 7th Massacre.”
Hamas terror infrastructure and 5 launch pits destroyed by Paratrooper Brigade combat team forces. – IDF pic.twitter.com/Gx28ZSv8lT
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 19, 2026
The strikes come amid heightened terrorist activity by Hamas in the enclave. Israel’s Ynetnews reported Wednesday that IDF troops are observing renewed terrorist movement in Gaza, but can’t respond under the ceasefire regulations:
IDF reservists serving in central Gaza say they are watching Hamas terrorists operate beyond the Yellow Line but are increasingly restricted from acting against them under tightened ceasefire rules.
“You can see Hamas operatives. They are not armed, but they are digging something, and there is activity going on among these ruins,” a commander in the sector told ynet. “He is handling something in the ground, and the drone follows him beyond the Yellow Line. Two people are not operating a tunnel, but there is something they are dealing with, digging between the collapsed buildings. They go inside as if they are trying to hide. We don’t know what it is, but it is clearly not innocent. That is how we know they are preparing for something.”
The commander said troops can document the activity, but their ability to intervene is limited once Hamas operatives are beyond the Yellow Line. “Our activity here is mainly defensive,” he said. “We are operating all the time in case they cross. These are actions meant to deal with a situation in which they cross, not actions that will prevent them from crossing.”
IDF recovers body of missing soldier from Lebanon after 44 years
The IDF and Mossad intelligence agency retrieved the remains of Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, who had been missing since the First Lebanon War of 1982, the Israeli media reported Tuesday.
We never leave anyone behind.
44 years after IDF soldier Yehuda Katz fell in the First Lebanon War, his remains have finally been recovered and brought home.
We never stop searching. We never forget. 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/WJRJcRyle7
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) August 18, 2026
Katz was one of three IDF soldiers who went missing at the battle of Sultan Yacoub in southern Lebanon, fought between Israel and Syria in 1982. He went missing along with Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman and Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel. In 2019, the IDF recovered Baumel’s body. Feldman’s remains were retrieved after four decades of search in 2025.
After 44 years, the remains of SFC Yehuda Yekutiel Katz have been brought to Israel
In an operation led by the Intelligence Directorate and through a joint intelligence effort with the Mossad, the remains of Yehuda were located and brought to Israel.
This marks a long-awaited…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 18, 2026
The Times of Israel reported:
The remains of Israeli soldier Sgt. First Class Yehuda Katz, who went missing in the First Lebanon War’s battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982, were returned to Israel on Tuesday, the military announced, with Israeli leaders hailing the country’s commitment to bring back every missing or fallen soldier.
The battle, 44 years ago, was a skirmish between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrian army in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. It claimed the lives of 21 Israeli servicemen and injured more than 30.
Katz, a tank soldier, went missing during the battle, along with Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel and Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman.
Baumel’s remains were recovered with Russian assistance and returned to Israel in 2019, and Feldman’s remains were recovered by Mossad agents in May 2025.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said that in a special operation led by the Military Intelligence Directorate, in coordination with the Mossad spy agency, Katz’s bones were located and brought to Israel for burial. No details were given on where they were found.
The operation was based on intelligence obtained in recent months, according to the military. The IDF added that the finding was made possible due to a “series of intelligence and operational activities that continued for more than four decades, since he fell in battle.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the IDF said that personal findings belonging to Katz were brought back to Israel during the operation and given to his family for inspection. Meanwhile, Katz’s bones were taken for identification and confirmed on Tuesday evening to belong to the slain soldier.
The military said Katz’s family was updated over the years regarding the ongoing efforts to locate his remains and return them to Israel. “Upon completion of the mission, the family was informed of the return of their loved one. Unfortunately, Yehuda’s parents, Sarah and Yosef Katz, did not live to receive the news,” the army said.
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Comments
Trump should learn and do the same to the Iranian leadership. his handling of this war is embarrassing
This isn’t Trump’s to implement, but there really ought to be a bounty on for any Iranian to take out a member of IRGC leadership.
Tell us how you’d do it, Mark. Are you willing to send in American ground forces to hurry things along?
Despite their immense suffering, a solid majority of the civilians in Gaza support Hamas. Same in Iran. That makes these military situations unwinable unless we are willing to mount full scale invasions. So why do our leaders persist with destroying their political support by engaging in such foolishness? Only things I can see that might be generating this are a mixture of unbridled hubris and unwillingness by self serving subordinates to confront the realities with their own leadership to avoid loss of influence. It does happen a lot though, despite the obvious consequences.
This is part of Trumps ceasefire agreement. Israel at this point can’t violate that agreement. Interesting that Hamas has not disarmed aswas part of the agreement and now states it will not disarm. Trump gave Hamas a deadline to disarm or face consequences. That deadline has long since passed with no response from Trump. Trump’s Gaza plan involves bringing in thousands of professional soldiers from anti Israel Arab Muslim Countries and inserting them into Gaza as “peacekeepers “! Joke. Oncce these foreign soldiers move in, it will not matter if Hamas disarms now as they surly will be rearmed by Trump’s invading armies. And when Hamas again initiates terrorist attacks on Israel, Israel will again be facing massed Arab Armies, but this time massed on its border. Those displaced Arabs living in Gaza need to return to their Arab nations and after 80 years and three generations, stop playing the poor, displaced refugees sucking up billions of UN dollars every year for 80 years and nothing to show for it. Those billions of dollars come from western nation’s tax payers. At one point, most of those displaced Arabs were Egyptian citizens. Why won’t Egypt allow its own citizens to return? Same for other Arab Nations. Gaza needs to be Israeli to ensure peace on that land. Tiny Israel was able to absorb thousands of displaced Jews from Europe, who were not allowed to return to their home in Europe after WW2. The UN hoped to solve the European “Jewish Problem,”
By creating the modern state of Israel and sending the surviving European Jews there. Where the UN Members expected the massed Arab Armies to attack and kill all the Jews and drive them into the sea. France and the UK armed the Arab Nations hoping to acquire Arab oil in return. And the USA, among the first to vote for the Jewish state, imposed a US arms embargo on the state of Israel. And the Demoncrats were in power then. With all odds against Israel, they still kicked Arab butt and the UN had to intervene and force Israel to cease fire and allow the opposing armies to retreat safely home. And since then the UN has financed and supported Hamas in continued terrorist attacks on Israel. And every time since, when Arab Armies massed and attacked Israel, the UN had to again intervene and force Israel into a cease fire and save those Arab Armies. Maybe if the UN worked to protect Israel from war mongering. neighbors, there would be peace in the Middle East.
Trump’s handling of the Iran war may or may not be embarrassing.
History will make that judgment.
Everyone here fails to see that the Iranian threat is the same as the Hamas threat.
Death of the leaders and destruction of their own people is the entire military plan.
Martyrdom is the entire point.
You will have to kill every single one of them if you want to prevail in a military sense.
That includes all the children.
If you want to win the war on terrorism, it is a multi generational effort, fought with propaganda.
Only when the children of the terrorists reject terrorist philosophy, will you have victory
When Hamas gathers to attack, Israel should continue to ‘ungather’ them.
More, please!!!
Hamas could always surrender, disarm and begin to behave/act in a civilized manner demonstrating good faith by turning over their SR leaders along with the 200 most egregious terrorist operatives, disclosing the location of all underground facilities, assisting in disarming any traps, handing over all munitions and freely giving testimony that implicates involvement with any foreign gov’t. …or not and the strikes against Hamas continue.