At dawn on Tuesday, 18 March 2025, a declared Israeli airstrike on Jabalia Al-Balad located north of Gaza City targeted the Director General of Hamas’s internal security forces, 55-year-old Commander Major General Bahjat (Bahajat) Hassan Abu Sultan (Abu Al-Baraa), killing him along with his nine-year-old son, Amir Bahjat Hassan Abu Sultan.

The Israeli military declared the strike in a statement posted on its Telegram channel at 17:04 on March 18, 2025. According to the statement, Bahjat Hassan Mohammed Abu-Sultan served as Head of Hamas’ Internal Security Forces. IDF labelled him a “senior terrorist” and also claimed the following in the statement: “The IDF and ISA Eliminated the Head of the Hamas Government in the Gaza Strip and Additional Terrorists. Over the past day (Tuesday), the IDF struck dozens of terror targets and terrorists throughout the Gaza Strip, including mid-level and senior-ranking terrorists in Hamas’ Political Bureau. The strikes were conducted to damage Hamas’ governmental and military capabilities, and to remove threats to the State of Israel and its citizens.”

According to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the Internal Security Force (ISF) is the intelligence organisation of the Hamas government, operating under the Ministry of Interior. It comprises members of the al-Majd internal security force within the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB), and is responsible for espionage and informants. Since the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB) are considered the military wing of Hamas, and also taking into account Bahjat’s military rank, Airwars researchers consider Bahjat a militant.

Twitter/X account of Al-Hadath media (@Alhadath_Brk) was the first to report the killing of Bahjat Abu Sultan at 2:59 AM, followed by similar reports by other social media users.

Information on Bahjat Sultan’s death was widely circulated on social media. One widely shared photo shows him seated at a desk, wearing a dark grey blazer and a blue striped shirt, with a Palestinian coat of arms flag visible on a pole in the background.

While many users shared condolences and tributes, others presented a different perspective. Salah al-Sheikh, a Facebook user, alleged that in his role as head of internal operations for Hamas, Bahjat Sultan could be linked to coercive policies promoting male recruitment into the organisation. He wrote the following about Bahjat: “He is considered directly responsible for the policy of shooting at the legs of anyone who wasn’t a Hamas member, with the intent of amputating them under flimsy pretexts that are unacceptable to any religion or principle.” Another Facebook user, Rabab Abu Hatab, accused him of “torturing the youth of Gaza and stomping on their feet.”

Additional social media users, including @El_manshar, shared images from the aftermath of the strike, showing the destroyed residential building, people climbing over rubble, and destruction in the targeted area.

Multiple posts across social media included images of Bahjat Sultan alongside other leaders reported to have been killed in similar attacks.

Where possible, names were cross-checked against fatality records released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH). The names of the victims in this incident were matched to entries in the eighth MoH list released on March 23, 2025.  Since 26 October 2023, the MoH has released eight cumulative fatality lists, as well as an additional list of deceased medical professionals dated 17 September 2024. Airwars prioritizes the first appearance of a name across these lists for consistency.

Although the Israeli military declared the strike, it did not recognize the civilian harm resulting from it, namely, the death of Bahjat’s son, Amir. Hence, Airwars has graded the strike status of the incident as “declared” and the civilian harm status as “fair.”