Israel’s campaign to hunt down the Hamas terrorists and commanders responsible for the October 7 massacre continues.
The IDF announced that Jamal Mahmoud Abu Kamil, a Hamas commander who participated in the October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel, was eliminated in an Israeli strike in Gaza City earlier today.
According to the military, Abu Kamil was not simply a figure from Hamas’s past. He remained an active threat.
The IDF says that in recent months Abu Kamil had been advancing attacks against Israeli troops operating in Gaza. Israeli forces therefore targeted him in order to “remove a threat” to soldiers on the ground.
His elimination highlights an important reality about Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas: October 7 is not merely history.
Many of the terrorists who crossed into Israel that morning did not disappear after returning to Gaza. Those who survived became part of Hamas’s continuing military infrastructure, bringing with them combat experience and knowledge gained during the invasion. Some continued commanding terrorists and planning attacks against Israeli forces.
That makes identifying and eliminating these operatives an operational necessity.
Since October 7, Israel has systematically worked to dismantle the Hamas military structure responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. That means destroying weapons, tunnels and command centers, but it also means removing the commanders and terrorists who continue trying to rebuild Hamas’s ability to attack Israel.
Abu Kamil reportedly represented both threats.
He participated in the October 7 invasion, and according to the IDF, he was still actively advancing attacks against Israeli soldiers nearly three years later.
His elimination sends a straightforward message to the remaining Hamas commanders involved in October 7: Israel has not forgotten who crossed the border that morning, and the hunt for those who continue threatening Israelis is not over.