Two weeks after the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the terrorist group suffered another major blow after the Israeli military eliminated its senior-most leader in Gaza.
An Israeli airstrike on Friday took out Izz al-Din Kassab, who was de-facto head of Hamas inside Gaza after Sinwar was killed in a firefight with the Israeli troops in mid-October. “Kassab was one of the last high-ranking members of Hamas’ political bureau alive in the Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a press statement.
Reuters described the slain terrorist as “one of the last high-ranking members of Hamas responsible for coordinating with other groups in the Gaza Strip.”
Kassab’s elimination will disrupt Hamas’ terrorist network spread across Gaza. His deputy, Ayman Ayesh, was also killed in the airstrike. “Kassab was a significant source of power and, by virtue of his role, was responsible for the organization’s strategic and military relations with other factions in the Gaza Strip. He held the authority to direct the execution of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF noted. “Kassab was one of the last high-ranking members of Hamas’ political bureau alive in the Gaza Strip. Alongside him, his assistant, the militant Ayman Ayesh, was also eliminated.”
The IDF released aerial footage of the strike, showing a vehicle exploding on a deserted road.
The Israeli military operation, which began after the October 7 massacre, has not only decapitated Hamas’ leadership, it has also decimated the terror group’s jihadist fighting force in Gaza. The IDF “had killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August,” The Times of Israel noted Saturday.
The Israeli ground troops were carrying out operations all across Gaza, including in the southern Hamas stronghold of Rafah. “In the Gaza Strip, IDF soldiers continue operational activity in the area of Jabaliya where dozens of terrorists were eliminated in aerial and ground activity,” the military said in a statement Saturday morning. “In Rafah and central Gaza, the troops operated to eliminate terrorists, dismantle terror infrastructure, and locate weapons.”
The IDF on Saturday destroyed a, large underground weapons factory operated by Hamas in central Gaza.
Isreali troops “located an underground tunnel route containing a weapons manufacturing facility belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization, located within the civilian population near the area of Zeitoun,” the IDF said in a statement Saturday evening.
The discovery shows the extent of Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure embedded in Gaza. “In the underground facility, workshops, hundreds of supplies for producing rockets, shells, and grenades, along with diving equipment intended for Hamas terrorists to infiltrate Israeli territory by sea, were located. Additionally, the tunnel route contained several long-term living areas equipped with an oven, stove, food supplies, beds, and offices used by the terrorists during the war,” the IDF added.
Israeli special forces reportedly nabbed a senior Hezbollah terror operative deep inside Lebanon. The terrorist, identified as Imad Amhaz, was captured in an IDF raid in northern Lebanon, Arab news reports claim.
The Times of Israel reported Saturday:
A Lebanese person said to have been captured by Israeli naval commandos in northern Lebanon yesterday is Hezbollah official Imad Amhaz, the Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath reports.Lebanese media reported that the IDF special forces raided a chalet on the coast of Batroun, south of Tripoli, and took one person with them, before returning to the sea and leaving the area in speedboats.The IDF has not commented on the incident.
Several people were injured when a Hezbollah rocket hit the central Israeli town of Tira. “19 people were injured and evacuated from the rocket impact site in Tira, with four in moderate condition and the rest in mild condition,” the Israeli news website YNET reported.
The strike took place as the Lebanon-based terrorist group launched a barrage of rockets and drones into northern and central Israel over the weekend.
There are reports of several Hezbollah drones hitting northern Israel. No injuries have been reported from those strikes so far.
Amid relentless Hezbollah rocket fire, the Israeli military was targeting the terror operatives responsible for the cross-border strikes. “The IDF eliminated two Hezbollah coastal commanders on Friday who were responsible for firing over 400 projectiles into Israeli territory throughout the last month,” the Jerusalem Post reported. “The IDF made the announcement of two terrorists’ deaths on Saturday morning, Mousa Izz al-Din and Hassan Majid Daib. Al-Din was the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the coastal sector, and Daib was the terrorist organization’s artillery commander in the same sector. The latter was responsible for Thursday’s projectile fire towards Haifa Bay.”
As the IDF ground operation in southern Lebanon enters its second month, the Israeli troops continued dismantling Hezbollah’s terrorist buildup along the border. “IDF soldiers are continuing to conduct limited, localized, targeted raids against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The troops operated against Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the area, located weapons, and eliminated terrorists in cooperation with the IAF [Israeli Air Force],” the IDF disclosed Saturday
A third Hezbollah commander responsible for firing rockets on Israeli towns and cites.
“A senior Hezbollah commander responsible for rocket fire on Israel was killed in a recent airstrike in southern Lebanon, the IDF announces.” The Times of Israel reported. “According to the military, Jaafar Khader Faour was the head of the rocket and missile array in Hezbollah’s Nasr regional division. The division is responsible for the region between Mount Dov and the Bint Jbeil area.”
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