Qassam Brigades Releases New Footage of Central Brigade Commander Ayman Nofal on Third Anniversary of His Martyrdom

The Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, has broadcast new footage of the martyred commander Ayman Nofal, commander of the Central Brigade and member of the General Military Council, reviewing stages of his military career, coinciding with the third anniversary of his martyrdom in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The footage, released by the Brigades as part of the “Moons of the Flood” series, dates back to different stages of Nofal’s military work and shows him supervising training for Qassam members and taking part in live-ammunition drills that preceded the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, in a release that again sheds light on the career of one of the Brigades’ commanders targeted by the occupation army during the war of extermination on the Strip.

Nofal was martyred on 17 October 2023, after occupation aircraft targeted the Bureij camp in the first days of the Israeli war on Gaza, during which airstrikes hit residential areas and refugee camps across the Strip.

 Operations Command

Nofal is considered one of the founding generation of the Qassam Brigades, having held multiple military posts over his career, including leading the Brigades’ intelligence apparatus for years before moving on to head military operations and ultimately to command the Central Governorate Brigade.

He also commanded the Gaza Brigade and took part in coordinating the work of the Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance factions and supervising their training, while in June 2023 he revealed a project sponsored by the Joint Room leadership to integrate more than 40 military bodies in the Gaza Strip into 10 military wings representing the Palestinian factions, with work under way to complete the unification of three other bodies.

Nofal’s name was linked to stages of Palestinian military action during the first Intifada in 1987 and the second in 2000, and he was pursued by the Palestinian Authority in the early years of the implementation of the Oslo Accords, according to his published biography.

A presence in the memory of his supporters

Alongside the release of the footage, activists on social media recalled Nofal’s career, known by the nickname “Abu Ahmad,” and circulated posts addressing his military, security and intelligence roles, as well as his contributions to planning and preparing military action.

The posts were not limited to his organizational career but also addressed aspects of his personality and social relationships, with activists describing him as close to people and good in his dealings with young and old, expressing their grief at his loss and affirming that he remains present in the memory of his supporters three years after his martyrdom.

The new Qassam release is part of the “Moons of the Flood” series, which addresses the biographies of commanders and fighters martyred during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and documents stages of their lives and careers within the Brigades.