A top Hamas commander has been killed in an Israeli airstrike – the group’s highest ranking military casualty since the 2014 war.
Militant group Hamas confirmed its Gaza City commander had been killed during the attack on Wednesday.
Bassem Issa is the highest-ranking military figure in Hamas to be killed by Israel since a 2014 war in Gaza.
In a statement, the armed wing of Hamas said Issa was killed “along with a few of his fellow brothers of leaders and holy fighters” during the fighting that has been going on for two days in Gaza.
Earlier, Israel’s internal security agency said that a series of Israeli airstrikes had killed Issa and several other senior Hamas militants.
Issa and several commanders responsible for the different districts of the Gaza Strip form the military council of Hamas, the highest body deciding the group’s militant operations.
The Associated Press reported that truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations had made no progress to end violence that flared this week after tension during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and clashes in East Jerusalem.
The offensive is the heaviest between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in the Hamas-ruled enclave, and concern is growing that the situation could spiral out of control.
Other air strikes hit what Israel’s military said were rocket launch sites, Hamas offices and the homes of Hamas leaders. Israeli officials said at least 41 Palestinian fighters have been killed in the Gaza hostilities so far.
“Israel has gone crazy,” said a man on a Gaza street, where people ran out of their homes as explosions rocked buildings.
Sixteen people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, Gaza’s health ministry said. Witnesses and health officials in Gaza said one Israeli air strike killed three people, including a woman, in a car.
