Israel kills two ‘senior Hamas terrorists’ in Lebanon

Among those targeted was a man described by the IDF as the Palestinian group’s top official in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has killed two high-ranking members of Hamas in separate strikes in Lebanon, according to statements from both the IDF and Palestinian militant group. Israel’s military operation in Lebanon has claimed more than 2,000 lives so far.

In a statement on Saturday night, the IDF named the two Hamas figures as Muhammad Hussein Ali al-Mahmoud and Said Alaa Naif Ali. The former was described by the IDF as Hamas’ “executive authority in Lebanon,” and was accused of directing attacks against Israel in the West Bank.

Ali was accused of carrying out “terrorist attacks against Israeli targets” and working to recruit Hamas operatives inside Lebanon.

Hamas confirmed that Ali was killed in an Israeli strike on the Beddawi refugee camp near the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. He was killed along with his wife and two daughters, Hamas added. It is unclear if there were additional civilian casualties in the strike on the densely populated camp.

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Al-Mahmoud was killed in an Israeli strike in the Saadnayel area in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa region, the militant organization said.

Hamas primarily operates in Gaza and is the enclave’s ruling authority. The group has a smaller presence in the West Bank and abroad, and after nearly a year of fighting, has confirmed the deaths of fewer than two dozen of its members in Lebanon.

Saturday’s assassinations came several days after the killing of Fatah Sharif – another senior Hamas figure – in an Israeli airstrike on the Burj al-Shemali refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

Israel declared war on Hamas last October, after the militants killed around 1,100 people and took roughly 250 hostages in a surprise attack on the Jewish state. After almost a year of Israeli air and ground operations in Gaza, nearly 42,000 people are dead, the majority of them women and children, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

At the same time, Israeli forces waged a low-intensity operation against Hezbollah fighters along the Israel-Lebanon border until last month, when the apparent Israeli sabotage of thousands of Hezbollah communication devices signaled the start of a major air campaign in Lebanon. A ground invasion followed earlier this week, and the death toll in Lebanon currently stands at over 2,000 people, including 127 children, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

The IDF said on Saturday that Israeli forces had killed more than 400 Hezbollah fighters since the start of the ground operation on Monday.