ROME (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The death toll from Israeli air strikes on Gaza last night has risen to 304. This was stated by the Hamas-led Ministry of Health. The ministry increased the death toll from the surprise resumption of Israeli air strikes last night, which previously stood at 244. The source added that over 1,000 people were injured.
Hamas’s information has not been verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Footage from Gaza shows dozens of children, women and elderly people among the victims. In the Israeli air strikes conducted last night on Gaza, Issam Da’alis, prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, lost his life. According to “al Arabiya” TV, al Da’alis was in his home at the time of the air strike.
Among the top officials killed in the Gaza attacks was Mahmoud Abu Watfa, who headed the terror group’s Interior Ministry. Abu Watfa, who headed Hamas’s police and internal security services in the Gaza Strip, was killed in an attack in Gaza City, two sources said, one of whom was an Interior Ministry official.
According to Gaza media reports, Issam Da’alis was a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza and head of the government’s monitoring committee, a position roughly similar to that of Hamas’s prime minister.
Abu Ubaida Al-Jamassi, also a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza and reportedly head of Hamas’s emergency committee, which ran Gaza during the war, was also killed overnight.
Another top official killed was Bahjat Abu Sultan, a high-ranking official in Hamas’s Interior Ministry, the ministry responsible for security forces outside of its military wing. Additionally, Ahmad Al-Khatta, director general of Hamas’s Justice Ministry in Gaza, was also killed.
Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the war in Gaza as a political “lifeboat” from internal crises, even if that meant “sacrificing” hostages still being held alive in the Palestinian enclave. A Hamas statement released by Izzat al-Rishq, a member of its political bureau, said that after two months of unprecedented air strikes on the Gaza Strip, “Netanyahu’s decision to resume the war is a decision to sacrifice the prisoners of the occupation and a death sentence against them.” It added that “Netanyahu has decided to resume the war of extermination as a lifeboat from internal crises.”
The Israeli IDF said it continued to carry out strikes against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets across the Gaza Strip. Targets hit in the past few hours included terrorist cells, rocket launchers, weapons and other military infrastructure, the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement. The weapons and infrastructure were meant to be used by terror groups in planned attacks against Israel, the army added.
– Photo Ipa/Agency –
(ITALPRESS/MNA)
