Three Hamas officials killed in Gaza strike earlier this week, IDF and Shin Bet say

Three Hamas officials were killed in a strike in the Gaza Strip this week, the IDF and Shin Bet announced, Report informs via The Times of Israel.

The strike killed Barhoum Shaheen, the head of the general security apparatus in western Gaza; Hashem Sarsour, head of Hamas’ emergency committee in eastern Gaza; and Faraj al-Aoul, the head of Hamas’ legal bureau and a member of the group’s legislative council.

The military says that Shaheen and Sarsour “were involved in Hamas’ security and governance activities in Gaza against the Gazan population, and assisted terrorists of Hamas’s military wing, while employing methods of repression and violence against the civilians of the Gaza Strip.”

The security apparatus, according to the military, is a clandestine Hamas body responsible for uncovering “collaborators” with Israel; security for top Hamas officials and assets in Gaza and outside of the Strip; and oppression of opponents to Hamas’s rule.

The emergency committee is a Hamas body tasked with maintaining public order and civil control in the Strip’s municipalities.