IDF Discloses Killing Three Hamas Operatives Over the Weekend, Including Two Oct. 7 Participants

On September 20, 2026, the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement that they had killed three Hamas operatives in Gaza over the preceding weekend: Yahya Hamdouna and Mohammad Rafa'i — both described as Daraj-Tuffah Battalion members who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack — and Basir al-Barsh, whom the military named a Nukhba Force commander. The military's identification of the third man matches Basir al-Bursh, the 28-year-old son of Gaza Health Ministry director-general Munir al-Bursh, killed in a drone strike in Jabalia's az-Zahra neighborhood on September 19 while helping displaced people fill water containers — an account his family and Palestinian officials describe as a civilian killed with no evidence offered of militant activity, directly disputing the IDF's characterization. Separately, Palestinian media reported two more Palestinians wounded by Israeli gunfire in southern Gaza near Khan Younis. Gaza's Health Ministry put the cumulative toll since October 7, 2023 at 73,910 killed and 174,935 wounded, and the ceasefire-period toll since the October 2025 truce at 1,393 killed and 4,822 wounded, with 831 bodies recovered from rubble; hospitals received three more bodies and 21 wounded in the preceding 24 hours.