Israel says it’s killed about half of Hamas’ military leaders
The Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted a commander in Islamic Jihad’s naval unit west of Khan Younis. It said it was looking into reports that civilians were killed.
The attack hit about a half-mile from a compound that Israel struck on Saturday, saying it was targeting Hamas’ top military commander, Mohammed Deif. It is still not known if Deif was killed in the strike.
Israel has said it is pursuing Hamas terrorists who are hiding among civilians after offensives uprooted underground tunnel networks.
The new airstrikes came as Israel and Hamas continued to weigh the latest cease-fire proposal. Hamas has said talks meant to wind down the nine-month-long war would continue, even after Israel targeted Deif.
International mediators are working to push Israel and Hamas toward a deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the terrorist group in Gaza.
Israeli forces have repeatedly had to launch new offensives to combat Hamas terrorists they say have been regrouping in parts of Gaza that the military has previously invaded. Still, the military has sounded increasingly confident that it has severely damaged the terrorists’ organization and infrastructure in its 9-month-old campaign.
The military said Tuesday that it has eliminated half of the leadership of Hamas’ military wing and that some 14,000 terrorists have been killed or detained.
It said it killed six brigade commanders, over 20 battalion commanders, and approximately 150 company commanders from Hamas’ ranks, and that over the course of the war, it has hit 37,000 targets from the air within the Gaza Strip, including more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructure and launch sites.
Israel’s ground campaigns have focused on northern Gaza and the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, where it says it has destroyed extensive Hamas tunnel networks.
One strike hit a U.N. school in Nuseirat where families were sheltering. Israel’s military said Hamas terrorists were operating from the school to plan attacks.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and terrorists took about 250 hostage. About 120 remain in captivity, with about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel’s retaliatory air and ground offensives have killed more than 38,600 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
The military said air force planes struck some 40 targets in Gaza over the past day, among them observation posts, Hamas military structures and explosives-rigged buildings.
Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the terrorists operate in densely populated areas.
In other developments
— A Palestinian in the West Bank stabbed an Israeli policeman before another officer opened fire, killing the assailant who was identified as a 19-year-old from Gaza.
— A court in The Hague convicted a 25-year-old man of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a building that houses the Israeli Embassy. The man, whose identity was not released in line with Dutch privacy rules, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months for throwing a blazing bottle of gasoline at the building on March 21.
— Two attacks by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists targeted ships in the Red Sea over the past day, the United States Central Command confirmed Tuesday.