The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a Hamas naval commander was killed Thursday in an airstrike in Khan Yunis, the largest city in southern Gaza, CNN and news.ro reported.

“Ammar Abu Jalala was a high-ranking officer in the Hamas naval forces and was involved in the organization of several terrorist attacks at sea that were repelled by the IDF,” the IDF said in a statement.

Another member of Hamas’ naval forces was also killed in the attack, the army said.

Israel believes it has succeeded in eliminating several high-ranking Hamas militants, an IDF official told reporters this week.

Israeli estimates suggest that Hamas’ military wing consisted of 24 battalions, ten of which have been “significantly injured” in Israeli strikes since October 7, the official said.

According to the official, some battalions in northern Gaza have lost more than four of their commanders, meaning that these battalions have lost more than half of their command.

Among other things, it made it difficult for Hamas’ military leadership to give orders for a counterattack, the official said, as there was a growing shortage of people to direct operations.

Replacing commanders in the midst of war is impossible, the official also noted.