Defense Minister Israel Katz commended the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police for eliminating a Hamas commander in the Jenin camp, according to the minister's statement. No further details about the commander or timing were immediately disclosed.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday evening commended the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police for the operation that eliminated senior Hamas operative Kais Bittawi and two accomplices in Jenin earlier today. Katz's statement came after the military officially confirmed the targeted strike, which The Zioneer reported in real time throughout the afternoon.
The operation was first reported around 16:27, when Israeli security forces struck a vehicle carrying the head of a terror cell. Within minutes, a security official told The Zioneer that a drone strike had hit three terrorists, including the chief of a local terror network. By 17:19, the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police jointly confirmed that Kais Bittawi — a senior Hamas operative responsible for directing, financing, and executing attacks against Israelis — had been eliminated in an IAF airstrike, along with two aides. The operation was based on Shin Bet and IDF intelligence.
Bittawi was a central figure in the Jenin terror network, which was previously targeted during Operation Iron Wall in January 2025, as The Zioneer has reported. The elimination marks the latest in a series of Israeli precision strikes against senior Hamas operatives in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
Katz's statement did not provide further operational details beyond what had already been published. The confirmation of the commander's identity and the method of the strike were fully established over the course of the afternoon.
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