The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets struck three senior Hamas operatives who played a "significant role" in October 7 mass breach that killed more than 1,400 people - mostly civilians.
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Commander of the Darj Tafah battalion of Hamas, Rafat Abbas and the commander of combat and administrative assistance, Tarek Maruf, have been killed using fighter jets, it said adding that Rafat Abbas' deputy, Ebrahim Jedeva, was also killed. "The battalion is considered to be the most significant brigade of the Hamas," IDF said.
Israel army yesterday said it had sent tanks, troops and armoured bulldozers into the enclave in a "targeted raid" on Wednesday night that destroyed multiple sites before withdrawing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- amid the growing calls to temper the ferocious bombing campaign -- said Israel had been "raining down hellfire on Hamas" and killing "thousands of terrorists". He said his war cabinet and the military would determine the timing of a "ground offensive" with the goal to "eliminate Hamas" and "bring our captives home".
Hamas' armed wing said Israeli strikes have killed almost 50 of the 222 hostages its operatives seized during the attacks. Hamas has released four hostages so far. The Palestinian group released two elderly Isreli women on Monday citing "compelling humanitarian" reasons, after mediation by Qatar and Egypt. Their release comes days after a US mother and daughter were freed.
The US military struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups today. The strikes in Syria follow a direct warning from President Joe Biden to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against the strikes on US troops. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, however, sought to distance the Syria strikes from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
US forces have been attacked more than a dozen times in Iraq and Syria in the past week by what Washington suspects are Iran-backed groups.
Since then, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's relentless retaliatory bombardments, mostly civilians and many of them children.
International alarm has increased amid growing shock about the scale of human suffering inside the besieged Palestinian territory where Israel has cut off most water, food, fuel and other basic supplies.
European Union leaders called for "humanitarian corridors and pauses" to get aid into Gaza as the United Nations warned "nowhere" in the territory is safe from Israel's retaliation for bloody Hamas attacks.
The October 7 attacks saw Hamas operatives pour from Gaza into Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and kidnapping 224 more. Israel has retaliated with relentless strikes that Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said have killed more than 7,000 people, also mainly civilians.
