Israeli occupation forces killed on Thursday morning three senior Hamas military leaders in the city of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Anadolu news agency reported that witnesses said Israeli warplanes attacked a four story residential building in Tal Al-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah.
Palestinian medical sources said that ten people were killed and more than 25 others were wounded in the attack, according to Anadolu.
Hamas’s military wing Izziddin Al-Qassam announced that three of its senior leaders were among the ten Palestinians killed in the attack. However, Palestinian officials say the death toll may rise as dozens could still be buried in the rubble.
Al-Qassam named its leaders as: Raed Al-Attar, Mohamed Barhoum and Mohamed Abu Shammaleh. The Israeli occupation has reportedly wanted to kill all three for more than two decades, based on their resistance activities.
Occupation authorities recognised that they had killed the top Hamas commanders in Rafah. Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency said it specifically targeted Al-Attar and Abu Shammaleh. But a third member of Hamas, Barhoum, was also killed in the same airstrike.
“The strike was the result of intelligence and operational activities, which led to the detection and attack on two central operatives from the heart of Hamas’s military leadership,” the agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Al-Qassam and Hamas leaders stated that the killing of their leaders would not affect the battle nor weaken the resistance fighters.
Anadolu quoted Hamas’s spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, who warned that the Israeli occupation would “pay a heavy price for the assassination of Al-Qassam commanders”.
“The Israeli crimes will not break the Palestinians’ resolve, and will not weaken the resistance,” he said.