Walid Majdi Haniyeh, a senior Hamas Nukhba unit commander and nephew of assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, has died of wounds sustained in an Israeli Air Force strike on the al-Nasser neighborhood in western Gaza City, Palestinian sources reported Friday.
Known by the nickname "al-Libi" - a reference believed to indicate past operational activity in Libya - Haniyeh lost a hand in the strike and suffered severe head bleeding before succumbing to his injuries.
Palestinian sources identified him as a high-ranking commander within Hamas's Nukhba forces, the elite unit responsible for the October 7 massacre.
His uncle, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in July 2024 when an explosive device planted in his room detonated at a secured compound in Tehran. Months before that killing, three of Ismail's sons and three of his grandchildren were killed in an IDF strike on the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. All three sons held senior positions in Hamas, with one serving as a cell commander in the military wing and another implicated in holding Israeli hostages.
The "al-Libi" nickname may point to operations Walid Haniyeh conducted in Libya. In 2019, a Libyan court sentenced four Hamas engineers to lengthy prison terms for weapons procurement activity in the country; they were released in December 2023 following Turkish pressure.
Friday's killing is part of a sustained IDF targeted-strike campaign. Over the past week alone, more than ten senior Hamas operatives have been eliminated as part of ongoing operations to remove threats to IDF forces and Israeli civilians.
