The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday that it had killed Hamas commander Wissam Farhat, who was involved in planning the October 7 terror attack and had been involved in terrorism against Israel for almost three decades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that Israel will kill every Hamas member involved in the October 7 attack.
Farhat was arrested in 1995 while driving a truck full of explosives for use in a terror attack against Israel. Hamas claimed later that he had divulged the location of another Hamas commander in Gaza City, who was later killed in an explosion.
Once he was released from prison in Israel, Farhat found his way back into the organization, and was responsible for the deaths of both Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians.
In a statement, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency [ISA] said:
Earlier today, following precise IDF and ISA intelligence, IAF fighter jets eliminated Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion Commander, Wessam Farhat.
Farhat began his command over the battalion in 2010 and commanded it during Operation “Protective Edge” – during which he ordered terrorists to target IDF soldiers in Shejaiya, including a dual attack that resulted in the deaths of six IDF soldiers.
He took part in the planning of the October 7th massacre, during which, he directed Hamas “Nuhkba” terrorists to infiltrate the Nahal Oz Kibbutz and IDF post. In addition, Farhat was one of the masterminds of the 2002 terror attack on Mechinat Atzmona, in which five Israeli civilians were killed. Moreover, he was one of the masterminds of the anti-tank missile terror attack on a civilian bus in Nahal Oz in 2011, in which an Israeli child was killed.
In 1995, while he was on his way to carry out a suicide attack in Israel, Farhat was apprehended by security forces and imprisoned in an Israeli prison for ten years. Following his return to Gaza, he worked in rocket production for the Hamas terrorist organization.
Since the beginning of the war, the IDF and ISA have significantly degraded the Shejaiya Battalion’s capabilities, including the elimination of their senior commanders and the striking of terror infrastructure and weapons.
Israel resumed its Gaza offensive after Hamas broke a seven-day truce on Friday morning. There are still thought to be 136 hostages held by Hamas and other terror organizations in Gaza — including some women, whom Hamas says are soldiers.
The fate of the Bibas family — a mother, a four-year-old, and a baby — is still unknown, though Hamas has claimed they are dead.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
