IDF and Shin Bet Kill Iyad Shambari, Hamas Military Intelligence Operations Chief Linked to October 7 Planning

The IDF and Shin Bet jointly announced on April 29, 2026 that an Israeli airstrike in the al-Rimal neighborhood of northern Gaza City had killed Iyad Ahmed Abd al-Rahman Shambari, the head of the Operations Department within Hamas's Military Intelligence Headquarters. Shambari was assessed as having 'taken an active part' in planning the October 7, 2023 massacre and was responsible for compiling Hamas's operational situational assessments of the entire Gaza Strip to direct attack plans against Israeli soldiers and communities. The military described him as a 'key figure' in Hamas's intelligence-gathering apparatus who posed an immediate threat to IDF forces operating in Gaza. Gaza's civil defence agency reported that the strike in al-Rimal killed at least four people and wounded six others. The killing continued a pattern of near-daily Israeli targeted strikes against senior Hamas commanders and confirmed October 7 perpetrators during the nominal October 2025 ceasefire — the IDF has previously confirmed kills of Hazem Rami Ali Aidi (April 26), Khamis Muhammad Khamis Qassas (April 21), and multiple other October 7 participants in 2026. Hamas had not publicly commented on the claim at time of initial reporting.