The Israeli Air Force (IAF) targeted three senior Hamas commanders in an overnight airstrike in southern Gaza.
All three terror commanders, hiding in a Hamas base in the Khan Yunis area, were involved in the October 7 massacre, the Israeli military sources noted. The IDF did not immediately confirm if the targeted terrorists were killed in the strike.
“IDF airstrikes overnight targeted major Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Tuesday morning. “The terrorists were named as Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’s aerial unit; Osama Tabesh, who commanded the observation and targets department in the group’s military intelligence headquarters; and Ayman Mabhouh, another senior Hamas terrorist.”
The Israeli news website YNET reported the details of the overnight airstrike:
Israeli fighter jets struck “significant” Hamas operatives in a command and control center embedded within the humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip’s Khan Younis, the IDF said early Tuesday. According to Palestinian sources, the airstrike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others.The army said that the strike, which was directed by intelligence from the Shin Bet security agency, Military Intelligence and the Southern Command, targeted senior Hamas operatives in Gaza, including Samer Abu Daqqa, head of Hamas’ aerial unit in the Gaza Strip; Osama Tabesh, chief of the terror group’s surveillance and targeting division within its military intelligence, and Ayman Mabhouh. Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that all three were killed.”The operatives were involved in planning and executing terror attacks against IDF forces and Israeli civilians,” the IDF said, pushing back on claims of a high civilian casualty count in the attack and claiming “Hamas’ media office in Gaza has been caught lying several times before.” The military noted that extensive measures were taken to minimize civilian casualties, including the use of precision munitions and real-time aerial surveillance.
The Hamas commanders operated out of a humanitarian zone located in southern Gaza. Israeli armed forces undertook several measures, such as the “use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” in an effort to minimize civilian casualties, the IDF assured.
Israeli jets “struck terrorists who were operating within a Hamas command and control center embedded in a structure that previously served as the ‘Al Farouq’ Mosque in the area of Bureij in the Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a press statement Tuesday morning. “The command and control center was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and conduct terrorist activities against IDF troops and the State of Israel,” the military added.
The IDF on Tuesday also confirmed the elimination of Hamas terror commander Mahmoud Hamdan, who was involved in the planning of the October 7 attack. The terrorist mastermind was killed in a drone strike last month.
“Mahmoud Hamdan, the commander of the Tel al-Sultan Battalion, played a significant role in planning the invasion into Israel on October 7th and advanced the Rafah Brigade’s plans prior to the entry of IDF troops into the area,” the IDF said in a statement Tuesday. “Additionally, he initiated, led, and planned dozens of terrorist operations against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
The Times of Israel reported:
The commander of Hamas’s Tel Sultan Battalion in the terror group’s Rafah Brigade was killed in an Israeli drone strike several weeks ago.Mahmoud Hamdan was killed alongside three company commanders in the Tel Sultan Battalion, according to the IDF.The military says that additional strikes killed several more top commanders in the battalion, along with dozens of operatives.The IDF says Hamdan took a “significant part” in planning the October 7 onslaught, and was involved in other attacks amid the ongoing war.
Israeli Air Forces (IDF) on Tuesday also eliminated the commander of Hezbollah’s elite terrorist Radwan Force in an airstrike in southern Lebanon.
“The IAF struck and eliminated the terrorist Mohammad Qassem Al-Sha’a in the area of Qaraoun, who served as a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander,” the Israeli military disclosed Tuesday,
“Al-Sha’a advanced numerous terrorist activities against the State of Israel. This elimination further impairs the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s ability to promote and conduct terrorist activities from southern Lebanon against the Israeli Homefront on the northern border,” the IDF statement said.
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