| Nukhba forces | |
|---|---|
| قسام النخبةقوات النخبة | |
| Also known as | Al-Nukhba |
| Leaders | Ayman Nofal[1][2] |
| Dates of operation | 2010 – present |
| Country |  Palestine |
| Allegiance |  Hamas |
| Headquarters | Gaza Strip |
| Active regions | |
| Part of | Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades |
| Opponents |  Israel |
| Battles and wars | |
TheNukhba (Hebrew:נוח'בה, fromArabic:النخبة,romanized: al-Nukhba,lit. 'the elite') is a unit of trained fighters of theEzzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).[3][4]
Israel claims the unit led the7 October 2023 attack on Israel, at the beginning of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[5]
In 2016 Israel's Institute for National Security Studies [en;he] said there were 5,000 trained fighters in the Nukhba.[verification needed][4]
In 2017, some of its members detected to joinISIS in theSinai Peninsula.[3][6] That same year a Hamas government border guard at Rafah crossing was killed by an ISIS suicide bomber.[7]
According to an IDF spokesman, the Israeli air force have been specifically targeting Nukhba.[8]Shin Bet set up a new unit called Nili – an abbreviation of the Hebrew phraseNetzach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker (transl. The Eternity of Israel Will Not Lie)– tasked with hunting down Nukhba members.[9]
Sources from the military said that some of the strikes targeted at top level Hamas militants were authorized despite the people authorising the strike knowing that they would kill large mines of other people. According to the IDF, on October 17, Hamas' fourth most senior commander Ayman Nofal who had responsibility for the Nukhba and the Be'eri massacre andRe'im music festival massacres was killed in an airstrike.[10][11] Sources from the Israeli military said that in order to kill Nofal the military knowingly authorized a strike that they knew would kill approximately 300 other people. Four multi-story apartment buildings were destroyed in the strike.[2] Only 70 bodies were recovered from the site on the first day, but locals in Gaza continued digging through the ruble of the building for 5 days, and believed some bodies remind under the ruble months later in April 2024. The Qassam Brigades confirmed that Nofal had been killed in the strike.[10][2][1]
The Israeli military described most of theirprisoners of war as "Nukhba". According to footage the Israeli security services released of interrogation of purportedly captured Nukhba members, Hamas has been using medical facilities in the Gaza Strip, especially the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, to shield themselves from Israeli strikes and that the underground levels of the hospital are utilized for hiding resources like weapons and ammunition. Hamas denied these claims.[12]Israeli officials claimed that Palestinianprisoners of war who were tortured and sexually assaulted were members of the Nukhba and that this justified abuse against them. For example, Knesset member (KM)Hanoch Milwidsky, from theLikud party, said:“If he is a Nukhba, everything is legitimate to do! Everything!” When responding to a question from Arab Israeli KMAhmad Tibi's criticism. of the treatment ofPalestinian prisoners by Israeli soldiers. Knesset memberSimcha Rothman also commented on the Nukhba,"we see over and over again an enormous disconnect between the justice and enforcement agencies, who persecute reservists, heroic fighters, who left everything behind in order to protect us from the Nukhba terrorists, for whom 'animals' is a compliment". In response to the reports of mistreatment of Nukhba prisonersGidion Levy wrote that, "…the reports about sex crimes remained as defining the barbarity of the Nukhba. Now we have rape by our own Nukhba. There is not just "suspicion of rape" here and there is no need to recite the prefix "alleged." Somebody raped the Palestinian prisoner…" in his opinion piece inHaaretz.[13]
Ayman Nofal. He was the commander of Gaza's central brigade. And the source claimed that the military knowingly authorized to kill 300 Palestinian civilians alongside this target. 300 people. And we spoke to Palestinians who were witnesses of that attack, because the IDF, you know, the IDF published footage of the attack and we managed to geolocate it to where it was. And indeed, four multi-story buildings filled with apartments were bombed on the families that were inside. … And Palestinians who talked to us, you know, said that they found 70 people dead in the first day, and for five days continuously, they took people out of the rubble.
In order to assassinate Ayman Nofal, the commander of Hamas' Central Gaza Brigade, a source said the army authorized the killing of approximately 300 civilians, destroying several buildings in airstrikes on Al-Bureij refugee camp on Oct. 17, based on an imprecise pinpointing of Nofal.
in the chapter:Hebrew:ההתעצמות הצבאית של חמאס,lit. 'The military strengthening of Hamas'
After a number of horror stories – not all of them – were refuted and found to have been incorrect, the reports about sex crimes remained as defining the barbarity of the Nukhba. Now we have rape by our own Nukhba. There is not just "suspicion of rape" here and there is no need to recite the prefix "alleged." Somebody raped the Palestinian prisoner who was taken to the hospital with a ruptured bowel and severe injury to his anus, and that somebody did all that to him on behalf of the state.
