IDF captures Hamas security chief, reports 29 Gaza ceasefire violations Aug. 19–Sept. 3

Israeli special operations forces captured Moein Muhammad al Arabeed, a senior Hamas security official, during a September 1 raid in the Katiba area of western Gaza City. Meanwhile, the US-backed Board of Peace’s stabilization plan for Gaza, which had led to a temporary reduction in Israeli strikes amid a tenuous ceasefire, seems to have stalled as strikes resumed recently.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet intelligence agency did not initially name the Hamas security official. However, Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry identified him as Arabeed, the head of Hamas’s internal-security apparatus throughout the Gaza Strip. Videos captured part of the raid, which turned into a firefight when IDF soldiers were discovered. The Israeli Air Force struck several nearby targets “to remove threats” to the ground force, and the IDF reported no Israeli casualties. Gaza health officials said that the supporting strikes killed at least four Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Arabeed as “one of Hamas’s most senior leaders” and said that he was responsible for concealing and moving Israeli hostages, hiding senior Hamas officials, rebuilding the group’s capabilities, and restoring its control over Gaza. The IDF separately said that Arabeed had recently worked to consolidate Hamas’s authority in northern Gaza and facilitate attacks against Israeli forces near the Yellow Line, which marks the Israeli military’s line of control inside Gaza.

Local reporting indicated that Arabeed previously served in Hamas’s Izz al Din al Qassam Brigades before transferring to the Gaza Interior Ministry’s security services. He eventually assumed command of the internal-security apparatus, which tracks suspected collaborators and protects senior Hamas leaders, earning him the nickname “the spy hunter.”

On August 28, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz met Board of Peace High Representative Nickolay Mladenov and said that their priorities remained to “rid Hamas of its weapons” and restore governance under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). The Board of Peace’s 15-point peace roadmap calls for Hamas and other armed factions to decommission their weapons, transfer civilian and security authority to the NCAG, and permit an independently verified, phased Israeli withdrawal. Israel has rejected the deal as Jerusalem insists Hamas fully disarm before the IDF cedes any territory.

Mladenov said that the Board of Peace had established a mechanism for deploying an International Stabilization Force to Gaza and identified potential deployment locations inside the territory. Morocco has agreed to participate in the force, while Israel has vetoed a Turkish contingent.

The plan has so far produced few concrete changes on the ground: Hamas has not surrendered its weapons or transferred governing authority, the NCAG has not entered Gaza, and only a small number of foreign personnel have arrived to prepare for the stabilization force.

The IDF reported 29 strikes and ceasefire violations between August 19 and September 3:

• On August 19, the IDF said that it struck a Hamas platoon commander in Nuseirat who had infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre. Shortly afterward, the IDF and Shin Bet struck another Hamas commander and several operatives in the Daraj Tuffah area who the IDF said had planned attacks against Israeli forces in Gaza.
• Later the same day, the IDF said that it killed four Nukhba commanders from Hamas’s Beit Lahia Battalion in the Shati area, including Muhammad Hamdi Ahmad al Masri, a Nukhba company commander who had worked “to advance terror attacks against IDF forces.”
• Also on August 19, the IDF and Shin Bet said that they struck a group operating from a civilian police station in the Daraj Tuffah area of northern Gaza. At least four members of Hamas’s military wing and one Popular Resistance Committees member were present at the station and had used it “to advance terror plots against IDF forces,” according to the Israeli military.
• On August 21, the IDF said that it killed Zuhayr Sami Mahmoud al Shahat, a Hamas platoon commander who had infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre and participated in holding several hostages. Shahat also took part in a November 2023 “ceremony” at which Hamas transferred released hostages to the Red Cross, according to the Israeli military.
• Later the same day, the IDF said that Givati Brigade troops shot an individual who crossed the Yellow Line in southern Gaza and approached Israeli forces in a manner that “posed an immediate threat.”
• Also on August 21, the IDF said that troops detained an armed Hamas member who approached and crossed the Yellow Line in central Gaza carrying a knife. Israeli forces took the suspect for “field interrogation,” according to the military.
• On August 22, the IDF said that it killed Sharif al Hasnayat, a platoon commander in Hamas’s Deir al Balah Battalion. Al Hasnayat helped lead efforts “to rehabilitate” Hamas’s underground infrastructure and had recently attempted “to advance terror plots against IDF forces and civilians,” according to the Israeli military.
• On August 23, the IDF and Shin Bet said that they killed Ismail Abu Ful, the commander of a weapons-production site in Hamas’s production headquarters. Ful played “an active part in producing explosives and anti-tank missiles” for Hamas, according to the Israeli military.
• On August 24, the IDF said that it struck a Hamas Nukhba company commander in Khan Younis who had infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre. The commander had continued to “advance terror plots” against Israeli forces in Gaza, according to the military.
• Later the same day, the IDF said that it struck two Hamas members in Deir al Balah who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre, killing Muhammad Abd al Nasser Ghab Abu Asad, a member of Hamas’s Nukhba force. The two had recently promoted attacks and attempted “to rehabilitate the organization’s capabilities,” according to the Israeli military.
• Also on August 24, the IDF and Shin Bet said that they destroyed two Hamas weapons-storage facilities located inside mosques in the Shati and Deir al Balah areas. The facilities contained dozens of “Kalashnikov-type weapons, magazines, and additional military equipment” and served as shelters for Hamas members, according to the Israeli military.
• On August 25, the IDF and Shin Bet said that they destroyed five Hamas weapons-storage facilities and a launch site in strikes across Gaza. The facilities contained “rockets, weapons, charges, grenades, and additional combat equipment” used to prepare attacks against Israeli forces, according to the Israeli military.
• On August 26, the IDF said that it destroyed a structure near a hospital and school in Jabalia that Hamas used as “an ambush point and a storage facility for combat equipment.” Hamas members had utilized the building to plan attacks and attempt “to restore the organization’s capabilities,” and several were killed in the strike, according to the military.
• On August 27, the IDF said that it killed Ismail Muhammad Ibrahim Barim, a Hamas commander who had participated in holding hostages Idan Alexander, Matan Zangauker, and Avera Mengistu captive in a tunnel in southern Gaza. Barim had recently advanced attacks and attempted “to rehabilitate the organization’s capabilities,” according to the Israeli military.
• Later the same day, the IDF said that it killed Bilal Ibrahim Saleh Rukhayi, “a commander in the anti-tank array” of Hamas’s military wing, in the Shati area and Azzam Refaat Abd Abadla, a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, in Khan Younis.
• On August 28, the IDF said that it killed Ibrahim Nabil Ibrahim Bass, a Hamas commander who had infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre, in the Shati area. In a separate strike, the military killed Hamdi Ahmed Hamed Khaleel, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) observation-platoon commander. Both had advanced attacks and attempted “to restore the capabilities” of their organizations, according to the IDF.
• On August 29, the IDF said that it struck a Hamas commander in Deir al Balah who had promoted attacks against Israeli forces and civilians and “acted to restore the organization’s capabilities.”
• Later the same day, the IDF said that it killed Ani Abed Alhi Fahri Mazloum, a Hamas Nukhba company commander, and Hassan Zidan Hassan Diri, a Hamas sniper, in northern Gaza. Both were involved in “the trade and supply of weapons” and had recently advanced attacks and attempted to rebuild Hamas’s capabilities, according to the military.
• On August 30, the IDF said that it killed Abd al Fattah Abu al Aysh, a Hamas Nukhba commander who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre, and Raid Adel Muhammad Alian, a member of Hamas’s military wing, in Jabalia. Both had recently promoted attacks and “acted to rehabilitate the organization’s capabilities,” according to the military.
• Later the same day, the IDF said that it killed Yasser Abu al Qeir and Muhammad al Adin, two members of Hamas’s Nukhba force, in Khan Younis. Both had recently promoted attacks against Israeli forces and civilians and “acted to restore the organization’s capabilities,” according to the military.
• Also on August 30, the IDF said that it killed Hussam Osama Hassin Nazir, a member of Hamas’s military wing, in Deir al Balah. Nazir had “advanced plans for attacks against IDF forces and the citizens of the State of Israel,” according to the military.
• On August 31, the IDF said that it killed Omar Muhammad Rushdi Saraj, a commander in Hamas’s supply and maintenance company in Gaza City. Saraj “managed the supply of combat means” to Hamas members in the city, according to the military. The IDF said it also struck another member of Hamas’s military wing during the operation.
• On September 1, the IDF said that it struck a Hamas commander in Jabalia who it said had recently promoted attacks against Israeli forces and civilians and “acted to rehabilitate the organization’s capabilities.”
• Later the same day, the IDF and Shin Bet said that Israeli special operations forces raided a building in Gaza City and arrested the head of Hamas’s internal-security service throughout Gaza. The Israeli Air Force carried out “focused strikes on several military targets” to protect the forces conducting the raid, and no Israeli casualties were reported.
• On September 2, the IDF said that it killed Talal Mustafa Saleh Bduy, a commander in the Military Security Department of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, and Momo Saeed Mohammed Huari, another Hamas member. Both had recently “advanced terror plots” and “acted to restore the organization’s capabilities,” according to the military.
• On September 3, the IDF said its forces operating in the northern Gaza Strip “identified a terrorist who crossed the yellow line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat.” The Israeli Air Force eliminated the individual.
• That same day, the IDF said that it killed “two terrorists who crossed the yellow line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat” in the northern Gaza Strip.

Samuel Ben-Ur is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.