Israeli Military Strikes Kill Senior Hamas Militants, At Least 19 Dead In Gaza

The Israeli military announced on Tuesday that it killed three senior Hamas militants in a series of airstrikes targeting a designated safe zone in southern Gaza. The strikes hit a crowded tent camp in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, resulting in at least 19 deaths and leaving more people trapped under the rubble, according to Gaza-based health authorities.

Video footage circulating on social media shows numerous tents engulfed in flames and large craters formed by the strikes. The Israeli military described the operation as a “precise strike” based on intelligence, targeting a command and control center embedded within the humanitarian area in Khan Younis.

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The military confirmed that the airstrikes killed Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, head of Hamas’s aerial unit in Gaza; Osama Tabesh, head of the observation and targets department in Hamas’s military intelligence; and Ayman Mabhouh, a senior Hamas militant. The Israeli military stated that these individuals were “directly involved” in the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and were recently planning further attacks against the Israel Defense Forces and the State of Israel.

In a subsequent action, the Israeli army also targeted the Al-Farouq Mosque in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. The military claimed that the mosque served as another Hamas command and control center. Palestinian news agency Quds News reported casualties and injuries resulting from this attack, though specific numbers were not immediately available.