IDF Eliminates Two Gaza Terrorists Who Moved Millions to Hamas
The IDF announced on October 25 that it had eliminated two terrorists in Gaza who transferred millions of shekels from Iran and Turkey to Hamas’s military wing during the war. The separate airstrikes targeted a Hamas cell commander in Gaza City and a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist in the Nuseirat area.
The announcement connected the financial transfers to Hamas’s efforts to rebuild its military capabilities and prepare attacks against Israeli troops and civilians. It also detailed the destruction of a Hamas weapons depot in central Gaza, bringing both the organization’s funding and its stored weapons into focus.
Two strikes against the funding network
Alaa Ibrahim Nimer Arshi, identified as a cell commander in Hamas’s military wing, was eliminated in Gaza City on Wednesday, October 21. Karam Riyad Hassan Abu Butaihan, identified as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who transferred funds to Hamas’s military wing, was eliminated near Nuseirat on Tuesday, October 20.
The IDF said their recent financing activity supported preparations for terrorism and constituted systematic violations of the ceasefire. The stated purpose of the airstrikes was to remove that threat. Although the terrorists belonged to different organizations, the announced destination of the money was Hamas’s military wing.
Weapons depot destroyed in central Gaza
A separate operation on Thursday, October 22, targeted Hamas’s physical arsenal. The IDF and Shin Bet destroyed a weapons depot used by the organization’s military wing in central Gaza.
The military’s announcement listed Kalashnikov rifles, rockets and a launcher among the weapons stored there. The combination matters: the operation addressed equipment already held in Gaza, while the two earlier strikes targeted terrorists involved in moving the money Hamas used to restore its military strength. These were distinct targets within the wider effort to prevent renewed attacks.
An earlier blow to the money transfer network
The latest announcement follows a broader account published by the IDF on September 25. That statement described the elimination, over the course of the war, of 16 central financial terrorists involved in funding Hamas’s military activity.
Together, those terrorists had managed transfers worth more than $1 billion through a network of dozens of money changers in Turkey and Gaza. The September figure describes that wider network, rather than the amounts attributed to the two terrorists named on October 25. The earlier statement linked the financing to weapons, payments to terrorists and the rebuilding of terror infrastructure.
What US sanctions reveal about overseas channels
American sanctions records provide additional context. On October 27, 2023, following the October 7 massacre, the US Treasury targeted Hamas financing networks, including a Gaza entity that it identified as a conduit for Iranian funds to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Treasury described Iran’s support as financial, logistical and operational.
A separate Treasury action on November 19, 2024, identified Musa Daud Muhammad Akari as a senior Hamas official based in Turkey who facilitated funds moving from Turkey to Gaza and Judea and Samaria. These records document overseas financing channels; they are separate cases from the two eliminations announced on Sunday.
Preventing the next round of rearmament
The security significance extends beyond the amount of money involved. The September IDF account describes financing as the means to pay terrorists, acquire weapons and restore infrastructure, the practical requirements for rebuilding a terrorist organization’s military capacity.
Read together, the October 25 operations illustrate an effort to disrupt both supplies and the financial mechanisms that replenish them. The IDF and Shin Bet said they would continue targeting terrorist organizations’ financing and rearmament capabilities in Gaza, with the aim of preventing their military infrastructure from being rebuilt.
