Three senior Hamas operatives were among the terrorists killed in the strike.
By Joshua Marks, JNS
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday rejected Hamas’s claims that dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in an overnight airstrike on a Hamas command-and-control center in the humanitarian area near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
Three senior Hamas operatives were among the terrorists killed in the strike, carried out by Israeli Air Force fighter jets acting under the direction of the Israel Security Agency and the IDF.
The military named them as Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, head of Hamas’ aerial unit in Gaza; Osama Tabesh, head of the observation and targets department in Hamas’s military intelligence; and Ayman Mabhouh, another senior Hamas terrorist.
“These terrorists were directly involved in the execution of the October 7th Massacre and have been recently operating to carry out terror activities against the IDF and the State of Israel,” the military stated.
The terrorists’ presence was confirmed before the strike via extensive intelligence gathering and aerial surveillance, according to the IDF.
Hamas authorities claimed that more than 40 people were killed and at least 60 others wounded in the attack, with many remaining missing as rescue workers continued to search the area. The IDF refuted the figures, citing the terror organization’s history of making up and distorting statistics.
“According to an initial review, the numbers published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza, which has consistently broadcast lies and false information throughout the war, do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike,” the military said.
Reuters cited “residents and medics” in Gaza who said that at least four missiles struck the tent encampment in the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Yunis. The Hamas-run Gaza civil emergency service told the news agency that at least 20 tents caught fire and that the missiles had left craters at least 30 feet deep.
The IDF accused Hamas of continuing to endanger noncombatants by conducting terrorist activities from within safe zones.
“Despite the extensive measures taken by the IDF to enable the Gazan population to move away from combat zones, including by designating a Humanitarian Area, the Hamas terrorist organization continues to embed its operatives and military infrastructure in the Humanitarian Area and systematically use Gazan civilians as a human shield for its terrorist activities,” the IDF statement concluded.
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