(Dan Tri) – The Israeli army announced on October 14 that it had eliminated a Hamas commander who participated in directing last weekend’s surprise attack on Israel.
Smoke and fire rose in Gaza after an Israeli air strike (Photo: Reuters).
`During the airstrike, Israeli warplanes killed Merad Abu Merad, the Hamas commander in Gaza City, who was primarily responsible for directing Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel,` he said.
Hamas has not yet commented on this information.
On October 13, Israeli warplanes also launched a large-scale raid on the Gaza Strip, eliminating dozens of Hamas targets and Nukhba members, the elite Hamas unit that led the raid on Israeli-controlled territory.
Among the areas hit by airstrikes were the Al Nuseirat camp and the northern and western areas of Gaza.
On the morning of October 7, Hamas forces suddenly fired more than 2,000 rockets toward Israel. More than 1,000 Hamas fighters also broke through fences at the border, raided Israeli-controlled territory and captured about 150 hostages.
Israel immediately declared war and launched a large-scale military campaign in response to Hamas.
Israel mainly responded with air strikes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed that the raid was just the beginning of the campaign to respond to Hamas.
Al Jazeera reported that today, the Israeli army continued to launch another raid in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Observers said that the raid created a premise for Israel to launch a larger-scale ground attack campaign against Gaza.
It seems that in preparation for this plan, Israel yesterday asked more than 1 million civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south within 24 hours.
The Israeli army today announced a 6-hour extension for people in Gaza to evacuate.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said people can use two routes to travel: Al-Bahr and Salah al-Din.
