Israeli army claims killing Hamas member in Gaza

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army claimed on Friday killing a Hamas member in an air strike in the Gaza Strip last week.

In a statement, the army said that “during the past week, the army killed Muhammad Abu Taha in an air strike, who was working as a drone operator within the Hamas air unit.”

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian group Hamas on the army's claims.

On Thursday, the Israeli army claimed that its Air Force aircraft “attacked and destroyed a ready-made launch site that had been placed by the Islamic Jihad organization inside a shelter in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.”

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

The Palestinian death toll from relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last October has exceeded 37,400, according to the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave.

More than 85,600 people have also been injured in the onslaught, the ministry added.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi