An IDF warplane has struck the office of Hamas’ head of security in the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv has announced, sharing footage of the operation amid days of fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
“Recently, an IDF aircraft attacked the operational office of the head of Hamas security forces in Ramel, Tawfiq Abu Naim,” the military tweeted in Hebrew early on Saturday morning, deeming the building “military infrastructure” while attaching a video of the strike.
Though the IDF did not indicate whether Abu Naim was present at the office, at least 20 senior Hamas officials have been killed in targeted assassination strikes since the latest round of violence kicked off on Monday, the Times of Israel reported.
READ MORE: ‘It’s not over,’ Netanyahu says, as Israel continues to pound Gaza with airstrikes
Health officials in Gaza say 122 Palestinians, including 31 children, have perished, and at least 900 people were injured in IDF strikes, which have targeted apartment blocs and other high-rise structures, some housing media offices.
In Israel, at least seven people have been killed in Hamas rocket fire, among them a soldier and a 6-year-old girl. More than 500 have been wounded, according to the IDF, which estimates that at least 2,000 rockets have been launched from Gaza over the last five days. The military has argued that the disparity in casualties between the two sides only shows that it is operating at an “incredible level,” insisting Hamas is nonetheless “trying to kill Israeli civilians.”
Freed in a prisoner swap in 2011, Abu Naim has led Hamas’ security wing in Gaza for five years. In 2017, he was wounded after his car blew up in Gaza City’s Nuseirat refugee camp, what the group described as an assassination attempt. Though his car took major damage in the blast, he suffered moderate injuries and survived.
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