Khaled Abu Anza, commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was reportedly eliminated before dawn on Thursday in a precision Israeli Air Force strike inside the Nasser Hospital compound in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to security officials, Abu Anza was hiding inside the medical complex alongside additional Hamas operatives who were actively orchestrating terror plots against Israeli civilians and Israel Defense Forces troops. The targeted aerial strike was executed to neutralize the immediate operational threat posed by the cell.
In a joint statement, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit and the Shin Bet internal security agency confirmed that Hamas had entrenched itself within the hospital grounds, transforming the civilian medical facility into an active military and terrorist headquarters. The exact identities and conditions of the remaining operatives targeted alongside Abu Anza have not yet been formally released.
‘Palestinian’ media outlets reported that six people were killed and more than 20 wounded in the pre-dawn strike, noting that a physician working at the facility was among the fatalities. Arab sources explicitly confirmed that Khaled Suleiman Abu Anza was among those killed in the compound. Defense establishment officials revealed detailed intelligence showing that Hamas utilized Nasser Hospital to stockpile weapons and operate active command-and-control centers. Structures within the medical compound were also deployed as tactical observation posts and safe houses for senior terror operatives.
Furthermore, security officials disclosed that operatives from Hamas’s internal security and intelligence apparatuses conducted interrogations and torture sessions inside the hospital premises. Through these actions, the terrorist organization systematically exploited the protected civilian status of the medical complex, deliberately endangering hospitalized patients, medical staff, and civilians sheltering inside.
Before and during the operation, Israeli forces implemented extensive measures designed to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties, including the use of precision-guided munitions and continuous aerial surveillance to isolate the terrorists hiding within the compound. The elimination of Abu Anza—also known by the nom de guerre Abu Osama—exposes once again Hamas’s entrenched operational doctrine of turning Gaza’s hospitals into terror hubs.
While the organization publicly portrays medical centers as protected humanitarian sanctuaries, its senior commanders routinely hide within their walls to run intelligence, command, and terror infrastructure.