The Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat published new operational details on Wednesday regarding the daring Israeli raid that captured top Hamas operative Mouin al-Arbid, head of the terror organization’s internal security apparatus in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, an elite Israeli undercover unit had been operating clandestinely in the sector for several days prior to the assault before breaching a villa where al-Arbid was residing with family members.
1+The property is situated in Gaza City’s upscale al-Katiba neighborhood, an affluent district comparable to Rimal. The report noted that the primary headquarters of Hamas’s internal security apparatus was located just a few hundred meters from the hideout. Arab sources cited by the paper claimed the Israeli unit had been on the ground for at least two days leading up to the breach. According to one account, the operators utilized a pickup truck alongside a commercial vehicle disguised as a produce transport. Upon arriving at the villa, one tactical assault team breached the interior while a second team established an outer security perimeter.
Another Arab source claimed that when the assault team entered the building, two of al-Arbid’s sons opened fire on the Israeli fighters. The operators returned point-blank fire, wounding both sons, while al-Arbid’s wife was killed and the senior Hamas commander sustained wounds before being subdued. Simultaneously, Israeli Air Force aircraft struck two vehicles in the immediate vicinity and deployed tactical munitions to disrupt any counter-attacks or ambush attempts against the exfiltration force. Eyewitnesses said the team extracted under close air support, then used motorcycles during parts of the egress from the scene.
1+A Hamas source told the newspaper that internal security probes into the breach are ongoing, noting the entire neighborhood was outfitted with closed-circuit surveillance cameras. A local Gazan source added that al-Arbid was actively finalizing preparations for the wedding of his son, who was severely wounded during the firefight.
Al-Arbid had previously survived two targeted assassination attempts during the war and successfully evaded an IDF arrest sweep at the Shifa Hospital medical compound in March 2024. Sources across Hamas and other terror factions in Gaza noted that for years, al-Arbid held some of the most sensitive operational portfolios in the Strip, including the brutal interrogation and execution of suspected collaborators with Israel and the suppression of ISIS-affiliated Salafi networks.