IDF says Gaza strike targeted 3 senior Hamas officials, disputes claimed death toll

The IDF says the targets of the overnight airstrike in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza were three senior Hamas operatives.

They are named by the military as Samer Ismail Khader Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’s aerial forces; Osama Tabash, the head of surveillance and targets in Hamas’s intelligence division; and Ayman Mabhouh, another senior Hamas officer.

All three were “directly involved in the October 7 massacre” and in other attacks on troops in Gaza and against Israel in recent months.

The military says it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including “lengthy intelligence gathering” and continuous aerial surveillance in the hours before the attack, “in a way that verified the presence [of the targets] in the area alongside other terrorists.”

Hamas authorities claimed that 40 people were killed and 60 were injured in the attack.

The IDF disputes the claim, saying that “in general, and according to a preliminary review, the numbers published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza, which has consistently broadcast lies and false information throughout the war, do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike.”

“Despite the extensive measures taken by the IDF to enable the Gazan population to move away from combat zones, including by designating a humanitarian area, the Hamas terrorist organization continues to embed its operatives and military infrastructure in the humanitarian area and systematically use Gazan civilians as a human shield for its terrorist activities,” the military adds.

Source » timesofisrael.com