CAIRO, May 17 (Reuters) – Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, health officials said.
Israel has stepped up attacks in Gaza in the weeks since halting its joint bombing with the U.S. in Iran, redirecting its fire back on the devastated Palestinian territory, where the military says Hamas fighters are tightening their grip.
Medics said an Israeli strike killed one Palestinian near a police post in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. The Israeli military said it killed a militant who posed an immediate threat to forces operating in the area.
Separately, Gaza medics said another Israeli airstrike killed at least three people at a community kitchen near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza area. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on that incident.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said that Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas’ armed wing in the Gaza Strip, was killed in what it described as a precise strike on Gaza City on Friday.
Hamas confirmed Haddad’s death but stopped short of threatening revenge.
HAMAS COMMANDER KILLED IN CAR
Later on Sunday, the Israeli military said it had also killed Bahaa Baroud, a Hamas Operations Headquarters commander, in an airstrike on Saturday, accusing him of planning multiple imminent attacks against troops and Israeli civilians, particularly in recent weeks.
The military said Baroud posed an immediate threat and was targeted in a precise strike, adding that measures were taken beforehand to reduce civilian harm, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.
Gaza health officials said Baroud, along with another person, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their car in Gaza City.
Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked in indirect talks to advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s post-war plan for Gaza that is meant to end more than two years of fighting.
Some 870 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the October ceasefire, according to figures that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants during the same period.
Hamas does not disclose figures for casualties among its fighters.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Alex Richardson)
Comments