Ayman Nofal

Ayman Nofal (أيمن نوفل; 13 May 1974 – 17 October 2023) was a Palestinian senior commander in Al-Qassam Brigades, the militant arm of Hamas. Nofal was a member of the group's General Military Council, head of its Central Gaza Brigade, and head of air operations. He was killed during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

Biography
By 2008, Nofal was a leader in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the militant arm of Hamas, as a field commander in central Gaza. Nofal was arrested along with 200 other Palestinians in the northern Egyptian city of Al-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula by Egyptian security forces in early 2008. After Palestinian militants blasted open a hole in the Egypt-Gaza barrier in protest of Egypt's cooperation with Israel in January 2008, hundreds of Palestinians, including Nofal, crossed the border into Egypt.

While many of the other Palestinian border crossers were released, as a wanted person by Israel, Nofal remained in Egyptian custody. According to Al Jazeera, Egyptian authorities believed Nofal was planning to kill members of Fatah or was involved in weapons smuggling from Egypt to Gaza. Hamas denied Nofal's involvement in these activities. Egyptian authorities were reportedly interested in Nofal's knowledge of Hamas' missile capabilities, the location of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and locations of senior Hamas militant leaders such as Muhammad Deif and Ahmed al-Jabari. Nofal escaped from an Egyptian prison in February 2011 during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Nofal was smuggled back to Gaza via a smuggling tunnel and received a hero's welcome from Hamas upon his return.

After Ahmed Jabari was killed in an airstrike in November 2012, Nofal was considered a possible successor as Hamas's military chief. Other possible successors included Imad Akel, Central Brigade commander Ahmed Ghandour, and Mohammed Abu-Shamala.

By 2023, Nofal was a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades's General Military Council. In this role, he also directed its relations with other militant organizations via the Palestinian Joint Operations Room.

During the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, Nofal was a commander of the Central Gaza Brigade. On 17 October 2023, a statement from Hamas confirmed his death in an airstrike.

After his death, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Nofal a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for his role on Hamas's General Military Council and as its commander of military relations.