IDF kills Hamas bodyguard of Yahya Sinwar

On 27 August 2026, the Israeli military said it killed a former bodyguard of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a strike in southern Gaza. The IDF also said a Hamas commander who had held three Israelis hostage was killed in a Gaza airstrike, and that two Hamas commanders died in airstrikes on Gaza the same day. Three people were killed in strikes on Gaza, and Defense Minister Katz said the ultimatum had expired and balloons and kites launched from Gaza would be treated as acts of terrorism.

Israeli warplanes also struck southern Lebanon, and Lebanese state media said a woman was killed in the south. She had been married two days earlier. The IDF said Hezbollah launched two explosive drones at troops in southern Lebanon overnight, and Israel struck Syria and Lebanon despite US-brokered diplomacy. The IDF chief ordered a major bolstering of troops in the West Bank because of escalated tensions.