Netanyahu Defiant: Elite Forces Capture Hamas Security Commander In Ground Intelligence Blitz
Netanyahu confirms Hamas security chief's capture.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces captured a senior Hamas figure on Tuesday during a ground operation in Gaza City that Palestinian health officials said killed four people. Netanyahu said in a statement that the target was the head of Hamas's internal security apparatus in Gaza, without providing further details at the time. Israeli media and Hamas's own Interior Ministry in Gaza later identified the man as Muein al-Arabid, with reports describing the operation as a "bold" raid carried out by Shin Bet special forces near his home in western Gaza City.
The Israeli army and the Shin Bet domestic security service said in a joint statement that al-Arabid had recently worked to consolidate Hamas's control over the northern Gaza Strip and to advance attacks against Israel Defense Forces troops. Netanyahu, in a separate statement, commended the Shin Bet and the IDF for what he called a "bold operation," describing al-Arabid as one of Hamas's most senior leaders.
Netanyahu said the captured commander had been responsible for hiding and moving Israeli hostages, sheltering senior Hamas officials, rebuilding the group's military capabilities, and, more recently, working to restore Hamas's governance functions in Gaza while assisting in attacks against Israeli forces. Defense Minister Israel Katz, who first disclosed the arrest, said Israeli troops had pushed deep into Hamas-held territory to seize al-Arabid, with airstrikes used to cover the extraction, and that no Israeli soldiers were wounded in the operation.
Officials said al-Arabid was wounded during the raid and subsequently transferred to Israel for further questioning. A Gaza security source told AFP that the operation involved an Israeli-allied militia inside the Strip, identified by Israeli media as the Abu Shabab group, described as the largest anti-Hamas paramilitary force currently operating in Gaza. Video circulating on social media following the raid appeared to show a firefight and a wounded individual whom some sources identified as al-Arabid, though this could not be independently verified.
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In tandem with the ground raid, Israel's military said it "struck several targets in the area in order to remove threats" to its forces. Eyewitnesses reported roughly a dozen strikes in western Gaza City on Tuesday morning, and the territory's civil defence agency, along with Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, said three children and a woman were among those killed.
Hamas's Interior Ministry offered a markedly different account of events, saying Israel had "abducted" al-Arabid, identifying him by his full name, Muein Mohammed al-Arabid, and stating that he was wounded while engaging the attacking Israeli force. A Gaza security source separately disputed Israel's characterization of his role, telling AFP that al-Arabid's responsibilities had centered on countering suspected collaborators with Israel rather than direct military operations or matters involving hostages.
Hamas condemned what it called the "criminal operation" and said it had been in contact with international mediators, including Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the US-backed "Board of Peace" tasked with overseeing implementation of an October ceasefire arrangement. The raid highlights the persistent friction surrounding Hamas's disarmament, which remains a central sticking point in advancing that ceasefire framework.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not complete its phased withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas relinquishes its weapons, while Hamas has maintained it will not disarm before a full Israeli withdrawal is completed, leaving the two sides at an impasse over sequencing.
The operation adds to a broader pattern of targeted Israeli raids against senior Hamas figures in Gaza even as the ceasefire framework remains formally in effect, underscoring the continued distrust between the two sides. Separately, the Israeli military has reported five deaths among its own ranks over the same recent period, along with the death of one civilian contractor, reflecting the ongoing volatility on the ground despite the ceasefire's broader aims of reducing hostilities across the territory.
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