Wissam Farhat
Wissam Farhat (1974 – 2 December 2023) was a Palestinian militant and the commander of Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion in Gaza. He helped plan several attacks, including the Atzmona attack and the Nahal Oz attack during the Gaza wars, and was linked to the October 7 assaults.
Born to Umm Nidal, Farhat had three brothers who also worked with Hamas: Nidal, Muhammad, and Rawad. Nidal and Rawad were killed earlier; Muhammad took part in the Atzmona attack. Farhat was arrested in Israel on 20 March 1995 for transporting six bags of explosives into Israel, believed to be for a suicide bombing. He spent about 11 years in Israeli prisons—Ashkelon, Nafha, and Hadarim—and was released in November 2005, three weeks after Rawad was killed.
On 2 December 2023, Farhat was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza war. The Israeli military identified him as the commander of Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion and as the mastermind behind the Nahal Oz attack and the 2014 Battle of Shuja’iyya, where seven IDF soldiers died, including Oron Shaul.
On 8 December 2023, Hamas’s armed wing released a video showing close combat in Shuja’iyya, including a fighter shouting “for your sake, Abu Hussein!” referring to Farhat.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:13 (CET).