THIS is the moment the IDF claims it eliminated the commander of Hamas’ Naval Unit in an Israeli airstrike.
Terrorist Ahmed Ali, was killed in a joint operation between the Israeli Defence Force and the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) in Gaza City earlier today.
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Ali had been involved in managing projects by Hamas’ Naval Unit in the Gaza Strip over the last few years, the IDF claimed.
He is said to have been responsible for attack on Israeli territory and against Israeli ground troops operating in the Gaza Strip.
Over the past week, it’s claimed Ali had advanced terrorist activities against IDF troops operating in central Gaza.
The IDF also claimed “numerous” launches had been identified coming from Rafah towards the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
The missiles did not cross into Israeli territory but landed in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier today, eight launches were also identified as crossing from Rafah into Kerem Shalom, with one IDF soldier being “lightly injured”.
The soldier received initial medical treatment at the scene.
The IDF also claimed the terrorist organisation continued to fire launches from populated zones in the area of Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom Crossing to attack IDF troops, as well as well as the crossing itself.
The news comes after the IDF killed the Hamas terrorist Ebrahim Biari, the commander of the Jabalia centre battalion.
He was struck by IDF warplanes during an Israeli airstrike on the terrorist stronghold in October last year.
The IDF also said Biari was one of the Hamas leaders responsible for sending militants to carry out the deadly 7 October attacks in Israel.
Hamas had claimed the Israeli airstrike took the lives of more than 50 people in in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
But Israel’s IDF hit back, claiming the explosion was a “wide-scale strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure”.
Israel is said to have already successfully eliminated several gunmen hiding out in Rafah as they continue their “precise” operations to wipe out the Hamas terror group.
The IDF launched their assault on Rafah on Tuesday with the mayor of Rafah already claiming his terror-nest town sits on the “brink of a humanitarian catastrophe” as the city “echoes with cries” of the dead.
So far, some 20 Hamas operatives are thought to have been struck with three “significant” tunnel shafts being located, said the IDF.
The haunting trio of tunnel shafts were discovered by brave Israeli troops as the search for the remaining hostages continues.
Why is Israel invading Rafah?
ISRAELI tanks and forces invaded eastern Rafah on May 7 – despite ongoing ceasefire talks with Hamas.
So why does Israel want to storm the southern Gaza city?
Israel says Rafah is Hamas’s last major stronghold in the Gaza Strip after claiming its military has already dismantled 18 of Hamas’s 24 battalions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We will enter Rafah because we have no other choice.
“We will destroy the Hamas battalions there, we will complete all the objectives of the war, including the return of all our hostages.”
The country believes Hamas has five battalions in Rafah and that its ground forces must move in to destroy them.
Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, known as ‘Gaza’s Bin Laden’, is also believed to be holed up in tunnels beneath the city.
About 1.4 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – have sought refuge in Rafah, having fled from cities, refugee camps, and villages further north.
Israel has said it will evacuate civilians from the city before invading – but the US and aid groups have warned it could be a bloodbath.
Israel’s military claims to have purchased 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, to house Palestinians relocated from the city ahead of the assault.
Troops have also been conducting “targeted raids” on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing before a full-scale offensive commences inside the city.
Israel kicked off what it called a “limited” ground offensive into Rafah at the start of the week – despite international objections.
Rafah’s mayor, Ahmed Al-Sofi, sent out a desperate appeal to the world begging for the assault to halt in its terrifying tracks after just three days of the planned six-week invasion.
He said: “The streets of the city echo with the cries of innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and homes reduced to rubble.
“We stand on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.”
Before the strikes got underway Israel issued an order for 100,000 people to evacuate part of the city and move into humanitarian camps set up by the IDF.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under intense pressure by his own people and worldwide governments for how he goes about ending the war.
Netanyahu has claimed the assault on Rafah is a must as it will serve Israel’s two goals – the elimination of Hamas and the return of hostages.
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