The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) has appointed a new general commander to replace Jamal Abu Samhadana, who was killed in an Israeli air strike last year, Palestinian media reported on Monday.

The newly-appointed leader, Kamal al-Nirab, was the commander of the PRC's military wing in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, the report added.

Al-Nirab, also known as Abu Awad, has survived several assassination attempts by Israeli air forces, according to the report.

The PRC, a militant group close to the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), together with Hamas, kidnapped Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit last June.

Last April, Interior Minister Said Siam of Hamas has appointed former PRC Secretary-General Abu Samhadana to a high post in the ministry. But two months later, Israel killed Abu Samhadana in an air raid at a PRC training camp near Rafah.

Source: Xinhua