THE head of interrogations for Hamas was killed in an airstrike this week, Israel’s military has 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.
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“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 had “struck over 40 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past day – eliminating Hamas operatives and their observation posts, buildings, and other infrastructure.
It comes as talks over 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.
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Jamalat Ramidan, a refugee in the crowded city, 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Israel has withdrawn most of its forces from Gaza after major offensives that left its two biggest cities – Gaza City in the north and Khan Younis in the south – in shattered ruins.
But Israeli officials say the war is not over and that they plan to send ground forces into the packed city of Rafah – sparking fears of civilian casualties.
The six-month-long war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by the terror group’s October 7 attacks that saw 1,200 people – mostly civilians – slaughtered.
The militants also dragged away some 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 129 either remain trapped in Gaza or are dead.
Israel responded to the terror atrocity 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.
The country has faced growing global opposition to the relentless fighting, which the UN and aid agencies have warned has pushed the north to the brink of famine.
Israel is also preparing to launch a revenge attack after Iran’s huge missile and drone blitz – but world leaders fear the outbreak of an “uncontrollable war” across the region.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that his country would decide for itself how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack.
In response to meetings with UK Foreign Sectary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, Netanyahu said: “I would also like to clarify: we will make our decisions ourselves.”
Lord Cameron said: “We’re very anxious to avoid escalation and to say to our friends in Israel: It’s a time to think with head as well as heart.”
Intelligence sources have suggested that Israel’s war cabinet has carved out plans for a “strategic but painful” direct strike on Iranian soil.
The IDF is now said to be waiting for the right moment to unleash its revenge as a fractured Middle East teeters on the brink of a wider war.
Iran’s Saturday night barrage which saw over 350 missiles and drones launched at Israel was foiled by the IDF and allied warplanes – including RAF jets – as 99 per cent of the projectiles were shot down.
The aerial attack was a major departure from what has been a long-running shadow war between the two arch-foes.
Despite worldwide calls for cool heads to prevail, Netanyahu’s ranks have repeatedly insisted that a retaliatory strike is the only possible response.
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