IDF and Shin Bet Kill Hamas Naval Police Chief Shahtout in Maghazi Strike
The IDF and Shin Bet announced Sunday that a Friday airstrike on a vehicle in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza eliminated Mansour Sami Mahmoud Shahtout, commander of Hamas's naval police in the Central Camps, alongside two other Hamas naval police commanders, Mahdi Jabr and Mohammad Noufal. The three were traveling armed in a single vehicle when an IAF drone fired at least two missiles. The IDF said the naval police 'operates under Hamas's military wing and advances and directs terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel,' adding that Shahtout had recently worked to plan attacks on Israeli soldiers. The strike fits the pattern of intensified precision operations against Hamas operatives rebuilding their capabilities in violation of the October 2025 ceasefire framework, and validates the IDF's expanded targeting authorities approved by the Trump administration.