The Israeli military killed Izz al-Din Kassab, one of the last senior Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip, on Friday, as scores of people were reported dead after strikes in the coastal strip and the UN demanded an immediate halt to fighting.
Kassab was a member of the Islamist terrorist organization’s politburo and responsible for relations with other extremist groups in Gaza.
The military released an aerial video allegedly showing the missile attack on his vehicle. One of his colleagues was also killed.
Hamas confirmed the deaths of the two men.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, which was triggered by the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023 in Israel, during which the group killed 1,200 and abducted 250, Israel has killed almost the entire leadership of the Islamist organization, including Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar.
This may hamper efforts to reach a ceasefire and secure the release of the last Israeli hostages, as there are few contacts left alive with whom an agreement could be reached.
Around 50 killed in Gaza strike
Fifty-five people were killed and many others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
Nearly 50 were killed in strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp and the towns of Deir al-Balad and al-Zawaida, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported earlier, citing medical sources.
Residential areas were targeted, where displaced people were being housed. Many of the dead were children, the agency reported.
“Eyewitnesses reported that following the initial strikes, residents rushed to help those affected, only to be targeted again by subsequent bombings. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, as efforts continue to locate missing individuals trapped under the rubble,” WAFA reported.
The Israeli military said it was checking the reports, while operations continued in central Gaza.
Israeli operations also continued in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip and in Rafah in the south. In both areas, military positions had been attacked and a number of Palestinians killed, the Israeli military reported, terming them “terrorists.”
UN demands immediate halt to Gaza fighting
The heads of 15 United Nations aid organizations and private groups called for an immediate end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip in a joint statement on Friday, warning that the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of death.
They said the situation in the north of the coastal strip, where Israel’s army launched a new ground offensive against the Islamist organization Hamas at the beginning of October, is particularly dramatic.
“The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence,” said the statement, published by the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
The signatories included the heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme and the aid organization Oxfam.
They said a permanent ceasefire is long overdue. “The entire region is on the brink of the abyss.”
