IDF kill Hamas financier who ‘funded terror group with ‘tens of millions of dollars’, Israeli officials claim

• Subhi Ferwana was killed by a fighter jet in a ‘targeted’ airstrike in Rafah, IDF say

A Hamas financier thought to have supplied the terror group with ‘tens of millions’ of dollars has been killed by Israel’s Defence Forces in Gaza, Israeli officials have claimed.

Subhi Ferwana was killed by a fighter jet in a ‘targeted’ airstrike in Rafah, the IDF and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement.

According to the officials, Ferwana, together with his brother, were involved in the transfer of tens of millions of dollars to the Hamas terrorist organization and its military wing in the Gaza Strip through their money exchange company, ‘Hamsat’, over the past few years.

They added that Hamas’ military wing depends on these funds transferred to them and its capabilities are now ‘consequently diminished’ without them. 

They said that Ferwana transferred funds to Hamas’ military wing during the war and ‘was aware’ that these funds would be vital for continuing the wing’s ability to fight. 

‘The funds were used – among other things – for intensification of military forces, the payment of terrorists’ salaries during the war, and to finance Hamas’ war activities’, they said in their statement.

Subhi Ferwana was killed by a fighter jet in a ‘targeted’ airstrike in Rafah, the IDF and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement

Palestinians inspect a destroyed house following an Israeli air strike

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza

It comes as the Israeli President announced Israel would be prepared for another foreign-mediated truce, should it lead to the exchange of hostages from Gaza.

Isaac Herzog told a gathering of more than 80 ambassadors: ‘Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages.

In response, a Hamas senior official rejected holding negotiations over a prisoner exchange but reiterated that the group was open to any initiative to end the war.

Earlier in the day, Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons liaison committee that too many civilians are being killed due to Hamas embedding itself in civilian communities.

The prime minister also warned Cabinet that malign actors are seeking to exploit the situation in the Middle East for their own ends, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels doubled down on attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, it was revealed Hamas fighters used a ‘safe’ hospital as a terror base knowing they ‘won’t be targeted’, the director of a Gaza medical facility admitted to Israeli security forces this week.

Ahmed Kahlot, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya in the north of the Gaza Strip, made the confession under interrogation, Israeli media reports.

He told Shin Bet officials that Hamas used the hospital to hide its operatives, carry out military activities, move its personnel around and even bring in captured soldiers, according to Israel National News.

‘They hide in hospitals because for them a hospital is a safe place. They won’t be targeted when they are inside a hospital,’ Kahalot said, the outlet reported. 

Injured Palestinians are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for medical treatment

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house

Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis

Kahlot said he was recruited by Hamas in 2010. ‘I know 16 employees in the hospital – doctor, nurse, paramedic, or clerks… who also have different positions in al-Qassam.’

The al-Qassam brigades is the military wing of the terror group that attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking 240 hostage into Gaza.

‘There are offices where the Hamas leader and two of the senior officials were. There’s a place where the soldier was in (the kidnapped soldier),’ he continued.

‘There’s a place for the interrogators, internal security, and special security. All of them have private telephone lines inside the hospital.’

READ MORE: Hamas fighters use ‘safe’ hospitals as terror bases knowing they ‘won’t be targeted’, admits director of Gaza medical facility during Israeli interrogation 

He added: ‘They [Hamas] have a private ambulance, even its colour and the way it’s painted are different, and it doesn’t have a license plate. 

‘They used it to transport the soldier [kidnapped] and transport bodies… It didn’t assist us with transporting the injured,’ Israel National News quoted him as saying.

‘I begged him to take someone to the Indonesian Hospital, take to Shifa [hospital], but he would refuse. His mission is more important. 

Despite suggesting he was a member of the group, Kahalot criticised Hamas’ use of his and other hospitals. ‘The leaders of Hamas are cowards. They left us in the field while they hid in secret places… They have destroyed us.’

Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals in Gaza. 

The deadliest-ever war in the narrow territory began after Hamas militants poured across the border in an attack on October 7 that killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.

During their attack, militants abducted about 250 people, latest Israeli figures say.

In Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive against Hamas, at least 19,667 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry there.

The ministry says around 52,600 have also been wounded.

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