Israel Kills Top Gaza Militant, Hezbollah Fighters Targeted in Lebanon Strikes

IDF and Shin Bet eliminate senior Mujahideen Brigades commander in Gaza as cross-border tensions with Hezbollah reignite

Jerusalem — The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the targeted killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian militant group Mujahideen Brigades during an operation in central Gaza. According to an official IDF statement released Friday, Ali Saadi Wasfi al-Agha was killed earlier this week in a joint mission with Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet.

Al-Agha, the military head of the group’s southern Gaza brigades, was reportedly being groomed to succeed the group’s leader, Assad Abu Sharia, who was killed by Israeli forces and Shin Bet earlier in June. The IDF described al-Agha as a key operative involved in orchestrating attacks against Israeli targets within both Israel and the Gaza Strip. He was also said to have been responsible for the burial of Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein, an Israeli couple kidnapped and killed during the conflict. Their remains were recently recovered from Gaza.

The IDF further noted that the strike was part of an intensified military campaign in Gaza, during which over 300 airstrikes were conducted within the past week. These targeted militants, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank positions, and sniper nests across the enclave.

Meanwhile, Israeli operations have also expanded beyond Gaza. On Friday morning, a Hezbollah fighter was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near Abbasiya in southwestern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency and corroborated by a Lebanese security source. The militant was identified as Mohammad Khader Al-Husseini, a resident of Jannata in Tyre District.

A day prior, another Hezbollah operative, Ahmad Ghazi Ali from the village of Houla, was killed in a separate drone strike by Israel in southeastern Lebanon. These targeted killings indicate rising tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.

These developments come despite a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and France on November 27, 2024, which sought to end over a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The ceasefire had followed months of conflict triggered by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

With fresh escalations on both the Gaza and Lebanon fronts, the fragility of regional truces is once again being tested, as Israel doubles down on preemptive strikes against what it labels imminent threats.