Tel Aviv, Sep 10 (IANS): The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday that a command and control centre embedded within a humanitarian area in Khan Yunis, which was being used by Hamas militants, was struck in a precise, intelligence-based overnight operation.
According to the IDF statement, several militants involved in militant activities were killed, including Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, Head of Hamas' Aerial Unit in Gaza, Osama Tabesh, Head of the Observation and Targets Department in Hamas' Military Intelligence Headquarters, and senior Hamas figure Ayman Mabhouh.
These individuals, the IDF said in a detailed post on X, were directly involved in the October 7 massacre and had continued to engage in planning attacks on Israel.
The Israeli security agencies emphasised that Hamas has been using humanitarian areas and civilian populations as shields to conduct its operations, violating international norms.
The IDF also dismissed claims made by the Hamas-run Government Information Office regarding casualties, asserting that the information was inconsistent with the IDF's data and the precision of the strike.
"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 organisation 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," it added.
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF eliminated two Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) battalion commanders in a strike on Deir al-Balah.
Among those killed were Abdallah Khatib, commander of PIJ's Southern Deir al-Balah Battalion, and Hatem Abu Aljidian, commander of the Eastern Deir al-Balah Battalion, both of whom played roles in the October 7 attacks.
Israel's ongoing large-scale offensive against Hamas comes in response to the deadly Hamas assault on southern Israel, which resulted in around 1,200 deaths and the taking of 250 hostages.
On Sunday, a few hours after a terrorist shot and killed three Israelis at the border crossing between West Bank and Jordan on Sunday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country is surrounded by a murderous ideology that is led by "Iran's axis of evil".
"We are surrounded by a murderous ideology led by Iran's axis of evil. In recent days, abhorrent terrorists murdered six of our hostages and three Israel Police officers in cold blood. The murderers do not differentiate between us. They want to murder us all, right and left, secular and religious, Jews and non-Jews, until the last one," said Netanyahu.