Israel says Hamas militant behind kibbutz massacre killed

JERUSALEM, unidentified — The Israeli army said Sunday it had killed the Hamas commander behind one of the attacks on kibbutz communities that triggered retaliatory bombardment and preparations for a ground invasion.

Billal al-Kedra is the latest Hamas commander or official whose death Israel has announced since it began bombing Gaza Strip targets eight days ago in its campaign to crush Hamas.

Kedra was killed in an air strike on the Khan Yunis district of Gaza on Saturday night, said a military statement.

According to the army, al-Kedra "was responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre" one of dozens staged when Hamas forces crossed into Israel on October 7 to gun down, stab and burn at least 1,300 people, mostly civilians.

Media reports said at least five people were killed in their homes in Nirim where community members were besieged for nine hours before the army fought off the Hamas militants.

"Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror operatives were also killed" in the night raid by fighter jets, the military statement said.

Nirim was one of about 20 kibbutzim, traditionally agricultural communities, that Hamas attacked when they broke through the militarised security barrier around Gaza.

Israel has dropped thousands of munitions on targets in Gaza since the attacks, leaving more than 2,300 dead in the enclave, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry. 

On Saturday, the Israeli army said an air strike had killed Ali Qadi, who led a unit of commando forces during the Hamas attack.

The military said that on Saturday night it had "also struck over one hundred military targets located in Zaytun, Khan Yunis, and west Jabaliya" in Gaza.

A spokesman said that the military headquarters of the Islamic Jihad group, another Gaza-based militant group which claims to be fighting alongside Hamas, was among targets destroyed.