The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday it has killed an Islamic jihad commander who was reportedly the logistics head in Rafah for the pro-Iranian militia linked to the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group.
The attack, part of airstrikes, took place east of Rafah, the army said, adding that the IDF continued operations in the southern city as well as in the center and north of the Gaza Strip.
The airstrikes also destroyed Islamists’ weapons depots and missile positions, the IDF said.
Heavy fighting has been going on for days in the Jabalia refugee settlement in northern Gaza.
Israeli soldiers have killed several militants in armed clashes over the past 24 hours, the army said Saturday morning. They also destroyed several tunnel shafts and a missile position.
Near the so-called Nezarim corridor, Israeli soldiers encountered a group of Islamists equipped with bazookas. According to the IDF statement, an Israeli drone took out the enemy fighters. The information could not initially be independently verified.
The Nezarim Corridor is occupied by the Israeli army. It divides the Gaza Strip into two parts approximately in the middle.
The Gaza War was sparked by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people killed by Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7.
Israel has responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive.
The Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza said more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The figures, which cannot be independently verified, do not distinguish between civilians and armed combatants.
In Rafah, the Israeli leadership says it wants to destroy the last Hamas battalions believed to be there.
