The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had killed a Hamas naval police commander and two other operatives in a strike in central Gaza over the weekend.

In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) identified the commander as Mansour Sami Mahmoud Shatout, who headed Hamas's naval police in central Gaza.

According to the statement, Shatout had recently been involved in advancing attacks against Israeli troops. The military said he and the two other Hamas members "were traveling in a vehicle while armed with weapons, and as such posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip."

The naval police of Hamas operates under the group's military wing and is responsible for planning and directing attacks against Israeli forces and Israeli territory, the IDF added.