Hamas confirms the death of Rafah brigade commander Samir Abu Younis in an attack on Khan Younis on Saturday.
Published On 15 Nov 202615 Nov 2026
Hamas has confirmed that Rafah brigade commander Samir Abu Younis was killed in an Israeli air strike on the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Israel’s military and Shin Bet security agency earlier said in a joint statement that they had targeted a senior Hamas military commander in a drone strike in Khan Younis on Saturday.
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The attack that hit a tent sheltering displaced people wounded two others.
The casualties were taken to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, medical personnel told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
Video footage verified by Al Jazeera and posted by Palestinian journalists from the vicinity of the hospital showed ambulances inside the grounds and stretchers that appear to be stained with blood.
Al-Mawasi, a coastal strip on the Mediterranean, is crowded with displaced Palestinians living in tents. Israel has repeatedly attacked the area despite previously designating it a humanitarian zone.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said in its latest update on Saturday that Israeli attacks have killed 16 people and injured 68 others over the past 48 hours.
Since the “ceasefire” in Gaza took effect on October 11, 2025, Israel has killed at least 1,643 Palestinians and injured 5,964. At least 850 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
Since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 74,695 people have been killed and 176,093 injured, according to the Health Ministry.
The ministry also reported that the number of deaths related to cold has risen to 11 after a nine-month-old baby died from hypothermia, the first this winter.
Gaza’s residents, most of whom have been displaced, are living in tents and damaged buildings as water damage from recent heavy rains has set in.
Israeli attacks have escalated across Gaza, despite the October ceasefire.
EXCLUSIVE
Siddiq Ander has accused RSF leader Hemedti of running the paramilitary group like a family business and suppressing dissent.
Senior commander Siddiq Ander says he has defected from Sudan‘s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to exclusive video footage obtained by Al Jazeera.
The footage, published on Friday, shows Ander accusing relatives of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti”, of tightly controlling the group’s finances, weapons, troop movements and military promotions.
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Ander’s exit follows a string of high-profile defections this year, with some commanders leaving alongside hundreds of fighters.
“It has become clear to us beyond any doubt that we were serving a purely family-based project controlled by Hemedti’s relatives in every aspect, money, weapons, fighters’ movements and the granting of ranks,” Ander said.
“Anyone who speaks out and tells the whole truth faces expulsion, imprisonment or a hidden death.”
Hemedti’s brother, Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, serves as the RSF deputy commander.
A wave of defections has seen several senior RSF commanders leave the group this year, including Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Azraq al-Fanjari, who announced on October 8 that he was leaving, along with 300 officers and soldiers and 30 military vehicles.
Al-Fanjari also urged other fighters to abandon the RSF, expressing regret over the suffering caused by the war.
His announcement came after the September 25 defection of Al-Tayeb al-Wahidu, who joined the enemy Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with 50 fighters in Omdurman, across the Nile from the capital, Khartoum, according to The Sudan Tribune.
Al-Wahidu cited abuses within the RSF as his reason for leaving.
Earlier, in May, Brigadier Ali Rizqallah, known as Savannah, announced his departure.
Yet another senior commander, Major General al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as al-Qubba, joined the SAF in April and was publicly welcomed by Sudanese leader and military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Al-Qubba’s departure followed disagreements over military appointments within the RSF leadership, the Tribune reported.
Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the army and the RSF, including disagreements over plans to integrate the paramilitary group into the regular military.
The conflict has since displaced about 13 million people and pushed parts of the country into famine.
The latest defections come as both sides increasingly use drones in attacks that have caused mounting civilian casualties.
On October 26, strikes hit a market and residential area in Nyala, an RSF-controlled city in South Darfur.
Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese rights group, reported more than 100 deaths, although other medical organisations recorded lower figures.
The United Nations says drone strikes have become the leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan’s war.
Bending Spoons (BSP) has proposed an offering of approximately $1.5B in senior secured notes due 2032, subject to market conditions and other factors.
The offering comprises $1B in U.S. dollar-denominated notes and approximately $500M equivalent in euro-denominated notes. The dollar notes will be issued