(JNS) The IDF killed two senior Hamas terrorists who were among the leaders of the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border massacre of some 1,200 people, the army said on Wednesday, Dec. 11, following strikes in Gaza.

Fahmi Salami, who according to the IDF commanded the elite Nukhba Force of Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion in Gaza City and led the Oct. 7 assault on the Paga military outpost near Kibbutz Be’eri, was killed in an airstrike on a structure that had previously served as a school.

In addition to leading the Oct. 7 attack, in which 14 soldiers of the IDF’s Golani Brigade died, Salami “promoted and led many acts of terrorism against our forces during the war,” the army stated.

In a separate airstrike in the Jabalia area of the northern Gaza Strip that was carried out last week, the IDF killed Salah Dahman, the head of the terrorist group’s paraglider unit, the army confirmed on Wednesday. Hamas used paragliders to infiltrate the Jewish state on Oct. 7.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Wednesday emphasized the need for ground operations to defeat Hamas, speaking at a ceremony marking a change of command for the Ground Forces.

Hamas “cannot be defeated without entering Gaza on foot and operating inside the tunnels,” Halevi said. “Without maneuvering, we couldn’t eliminate Hamas operatives, locate infrastructure or cause the enemy real distress.”

He added, “We are far from finished. We will not stop until the hostages are returned and Hamas is eradicated. We will continue as long as Hamas seeks to govern.”