Israel Says it Killed Senior Hamas Leader in Gaza Airstrike 3 Months Ago

Israeli soldiers take cover during a missile attack next to the border with Gaza, near Sderot, southern Israel, 09 October 2023 (reissued 02 October 2024). EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli soldiers take cover during a missile attack next to the border with Gaza, near Sderot, southern Israel, 09 October 2023 (reissued 02 October 2024). EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel Says it Killed Senior Hamas Leader in Gaza Airstrike 3 Months Ago

Israeli soldiers take cover during a missile attack next to the border with Gaza, near Sderot, southern Israel, 09 October 2023 (reissued 02 October 2024). EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli soldiers take cover during a missile attack next to the border with Gaza, near Sderot, southern Israel, 09 October 2023 (reissued 02 October 2024). EPA/ATEF SAFADI

The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago.

It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders, Sameh Siraj and Sameh Oudeh.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

The military said the three commanders had taken refuge in a fortified underground compound in northern Gaza that served as a command and control center.

It said Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war.

Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.



Lebanese Red Cross Says Israeli Strike Killed 4 of its Medics, Lebanese Soldier

Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
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Lebanese Red Cross Says Israeli Strike Killed 4 of its Medics, Lebanese Soldier

Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force airstrikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Sasa, northern Israel, October 3, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

The Lebanese Red Cross said Thursday that an Israeli strike killed four of its paramedics and a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south.

It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted despite coordinating its movements with UN peacekeepers.

An escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah over the past two weeks has led to clashes between the two sides inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel at the start of the Gaza war in support of Hamas, causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents whom Israel says need to return home.

In Lebanon, nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in nearly a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.

More than a million Lebanese have been forced to flee their homes.

In a separate development, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of villages and towns in southern Lebanon that are north of a United Nations-declared buffer zone established after the 2006 war. The warnings issued Thursday signaled a possible broadening of Israel’s incursion into southern Lebanon, which until now has been confined to areas close to the border.

At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week.