Tel Aviv. Dec 3: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday said that it has killed several Hamas militants and also destroyed many tunnel networks of the militant group in Gaza as hostilities continue in the enclave following the collapse of the seven-day truce.
On Saturday, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA) had jointly announced that Wessam Farhat, commander of the Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion, was killed in airstrikes which were conducted following military and agency intelligence.
According to the IDF and ISA, Farhat plotted the attack on the kibbutz of Nahal Oz and an IDF post in the community on October 7, CNN reported. Six IDF soldiers were killed in that attack.
According to Israeli officials, Farhat began his command over the battalion in 2010 and had previously plotted a 2002 terror attack on Mechinat Atzmona and an attack on a civilian bus in Nahal Oz in 2011.
Meanwhile, the IDF has also asked people of southern Gaza to move into shelters near the Rafah border crossing and heavy shelling is reported from Khan Younis.
Khan Younis is the home town of senior Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, considered to be the brain behind the October 7 carnage and mayhem on Israel. Hamas’s top miliitary leader Mohammed Deif is also believed to be in hiding in the tunnel network in Khan Younis.
Israel attacks Gaza with 100K bombs, rockets
The Hamas-controlled Government’s Media Office (GMO) in Gaza said that since the ongoing war erupted on October 7, Israel has attacked the besieged enclave with approximately 100,000 bombs and rockets.
GMO Director Ismael Al-Thawabteh told reported on Saturday night that some of the bombs weigh 2,000 pounds “with the deliberate and brutal intention of targeting civilians”, reports Xinhua news agency.
Al-Thawabteh added the Palestinian death toll due to Israel’s assaults has risen to 15,207 as of Saturday afternoon, and the number of missing people has risen to over 7,500, either trapped under the rubble or with unknown fates, while the count of injuries has reached 40,650. (IANS)
