CIA working with Israeli officials to secure another hostage deal with Hamas
Correspondent Trey Yingst reports the latest from Tel Aviv.
Israel’s military announced Tuesday that it has taken out Subhi Ferwana, a "Hamas financier involved in transferring tens of millions of dollars to the Hamas terrorist organization’s military wing."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Ferwana was "eliminated by an Israeli Air Force fighter jet" during a targeted operation in the middle of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The jet conducted the strike using information from the IDF and Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency, it added.
"Ferwana was a prominent financier who, together with his brother, was 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," the IDF said in a statement.
"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," it continued. "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."
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The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday released this image of Subhi Ferwana. (IDF)
The IDF also said "Hamas uses financiers in order to receive the funds that are transferred to the terrorist organization from Iran and various fundraising sources abroad" and without them, their "capabilities are consequently diminished."
Elsewhere in Gaza on Tuesday, the IDF released a video appearing to show its soldiers finding an explosive device inside a medical clinic in Shuja'iyya.
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Palestinians are seen standing in an area of Rafah that was hit by an airstrike on Tuesday, Dec. 19. (AP/Fatima Shbair)
"The Israeli Navy is continuing to strike terrorist targets throughout Gaza including compounds where terrorist operatives and vessels used by Hamas for its military activity were located," the IDF wrote in a post on X.
Israeli soldiers are seen on Friday, Dec. 15, in a tunnel that the military says Hamas militants used to attack the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
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Farther north along Israel’s border with Lebanon, "one launch was identified from Lebanon toward Metula that fell in an open area," according to the Israeli military.
Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.