The commander of the Zionist 162nd Division’s 401st Armored Brigade, Colonel Ehsan Daqsa, was eliminated by Palestinian Resistance fighters in Jabalia, the northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
A Zionist military investigation into the incident found that Colonel Daqsa was positioned outside his tank with a number of other officers when an explosive device was detonated near them.
Daqsa, the commander of the 52nd Battalion, and two other officers were positioned outside the tank in Jabalia and walked several meters to an observation point. Palestinian Resistance fighters had booby-trapped, the presumably cleared site, with explosives, killing Daqsa and seriously wounding the commander of the 52nd Battalion. Two other officers were listed with light and moderate injuries.
The commander of the 401st Brigade is among two of the highest-ranking Zionist officers killed during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. His killing marks a major achievement for the Resistance in Jabalia, a city that has defended against three military campaigns, seen extensive bombing, and the forced displacement of thousands.
First commander of Generals’ Plan eliminated
In the latest military campaign against Jabalia, Daqsa was among those leading the so-called “Generals’ Plan”, which aims to transform the area into a closed military zone. This means that civilians would either be forced to leave their homes by soldiers on the ground or face starvation and death.
Daqsa was also pictured with Palestinian civilians, as he oversaw the implementation of ethnic cleansing in Jabalia.
Zionist command chain rattled
The only other colonel to be killed in the Gaza Strip, was Colonel Itzhak Ben Bassat, the head of the Golani Brigade chief’s forward command team, who was killed along with eight other troops in an ambush in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, on December 12, 2023.
Facing a crisis in its command chain, after Palestinian Resistance fighters eliminated multiple top-ranking Israeli officers, the Zionist military command appointed the deputy head of the 162nd Division to command the 401st Brigade in the meantime.
Further shedding light on the systematic crisis that Zionist occupation forces suffer from, today’s ambush will force Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Ella, the former commander of the 52nd Battalion, who was moderately injured in July, to return to command the battalion after his replacement was seriously wounded on Sunday.
Moreover, Colonel Benny Aharon, who had handed over his position as commander of the 401st Brigade to Daqsa in June 25, 2024, will be brought back to serve as deputy head of the 162nd Division.
Hamas leader Osama Hamdan spoke to to Al-Jazeera about the war:
The Jabalia operation proves that the martyrdom of leader Al-Sinwar did not weaken the resistance in Gaza.
The assassination of the leaders did not disrupt the negotiations, as evidenced by Al-Sinwar’s continued leadership of the talks after the assassination of Commander Haniyeh.
Al-Sinwar was busy stopping the aggression on Gaza without compromising the rights of our resistant people.
The movement is arranging its papers and managing its affairs internally, and after that, it will be announced who will succeed Sinwar.
The heroic personality of leader Sinwar pushed him to resist the occupation from the front lines.
The scene of Sinwar’s martyrdom invalidated the occupation’s cheap propaganda about Hamas leaders since the start of the war on Gaza.
Our resistant people in northern Gaza will foil the plan of the new Nazi generals from the occupation leaders.
Northern Gaza is witnessing a holocaust that has no parallel in history, in full view of the entire world.