THE head of Hamas’s interrogations was killed in an air strike this week, Israel’s military said.
Yousef Shabat, a senior officer in the terror group’s brutal intelligence wing in northern Gaza, was eliminated as Israel ramps up its strikes across the Strip to wipe out Hamas’s last battalions.
“This elimination significantly damages the organisation’s investigations department,” said a statement from Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
On Wednesday, Israel’s military said its Air Force said Wednesday had “struck over 40 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past day.”
The IDF said they had hit dozens of targets, striking Hamas’s operatives, observation posts, buildings and other infrastructure.
It comes as talks toward a truce and hostage release deal have stalled in Qatar, despite months of effort involving US and Egyptian officials.
One strike yesterday hit the southernmost city of Rafah, where 1.5million Palestinians are sheltering.
Jamalat Ramidan, a Palestinian who sought refuge in Rafah, said she “woke up to the sounds of girls shouting ‘mama, mama, mama’.”
She described fleeing the carnage in the strike’s aftermath alongside her children as they stumbled over “body parts and corpses scattered all over the place.”
Israel has withdrawn most of its forces from Gaza after major offensives that left its two biggest cities – Gaza City in the north and Khan Younis in the south – in ruins.
But Israeli officials say the war is not over and that they plan to send ground forces into the packed city of Rafah.
The six-months-long war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by the terror group’s October 7 attacks that led to the slaughter of 1,200 people, most civilians.
The militants also dragged some 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 129 remain trapped in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.
Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructive military onslaughts in recent history, killing nearly 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health officials.
Israel has faced growing global opposition to the relentless fighting in Gaza, which the UN and aid agencies have warned has pushed the north to the brink of famine.
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