The Israeli Air Force bombed the house of a relative of the commander of the military wing of the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip, killing at least three people.
On the night of October 10, Israeli fighters attacked the house where many relatives of Mohammad Deif, commander of the military wing of Hamas, were located on Qizan and Najjar Street, Khan Younis city, southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reported today.
The airstrike killed Mr. Deif’s brother, son and niece. Many relatives of the Hamas military commander were also trapped in the house that collapsed after the air strike, but the number is unknown.
Deif has been hunted by Israeli intelligence and security agencies for more than 30 years but always kept his whereabouts secret and escaped assassination plans many times. The military commander of Hamas seems to be back in Tel Aviv’s sights when he is considered the “architect” of the large-scale attack campaign launched by the group on Israel on October 7.
In the following press conference, Brigadier General Omer Tishler, chief of staff of the Israeli Air Force, announced that the country’s fighters were attacking the Gaza Strip “on an unprecedented scale.”
General Tishler announced that the Israeli air force does not target civilians in the Gaza Strip but will no longer deploy “surgical air strikes.” This term refers to a high-precision attack aimed at destroying military targets without causing much damage to the surrounding area.
“We still use precise, professional airstrikes, but not ‘surgery’. We don’t use one, a few dozen, a few hundred, but a few thousand shells,” General Tishler said.
Hamas‘s health agency announced on the same day that about 950 Palestinians were killed and 5,000 injured in Israeli airstrikes since October 7. Of these, at least 30 people were killed and hundreds injured in the airstrike on the night of October 10.
Local officials said dozens of residential buildings, factories, mosques and shops in the Gaza Strip were hit by Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli army announced that its fighters had bombed two bank branches used by the Hamas group, a tunnel, several command posts and other military facilities in Gaza.
Last weekend, Hamas launched a coordinated attack by land, air and sea from the Gaza Strip against Israel. The clash left at least 1,200 people in Israel dead and about 2,800 injured. The Israeli air force and artillery then launched a large-scale response attack against the Gaza Strip.
Israel declared a total war and “will punish Hamas at an unprecedented level.” The IDF has mobilized 300,000 reserve troops and mentioned possibly opening a ground campaign against the Gaza Strip, even taking control of this area.
Meanwhile, Hamas announced that it had just mobilized 2,000 members to participate in the attack on Israel and still had 40,000 troops in the Gaza Strip. This group affirms that it is well prepared and ready for all scenarios, including prolonged conflict.
