Hamas Commander, Dozens of Terrorists, Killed in Gaza Strikes
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Hamas Commander, Dozens of Terrorists, Killed in Gaza Strikes
The Israeli military says overnight air strikes on Gaza have killed a senior Hamas commander.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Daniel Hagari, said the deputy commander of Hamas’s rocket force was killed alongside “dozens of terrorists”, according to comments carried by the Reuters news agency and Israeli media.
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Hamas is officially designated a terrorist organisation by the UK, US, and other countries.
A little earlier, Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, said 55 people were killed in overnight strikes. Images have shown the aftermath of air strikes in both central Gaza and in the south, in Rafah, which is close to the border with Egypt.
Israel is repeating its warning to civilians in the north to head south – parts of northern Gaza have been almost entirely flattened. Gaza is a relatively small area – the length of the strip is similar to that of London – and very densely populated.
Hagari said that Israel was ramping up its attacks on Gaza “in preparation for the next phase of the war” – which is expected to be a ground offensive. “We will go to the next stage under the best conditions for the IDF [Israeli military],” he said.
