By Jerald Jimenez
Dec 24, 2023, 3:28 PM EST
Israeli forces announced on Saturday that they had killed the key Hamas official in charge of supplying weapons to the terrorist group, in an airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The deceased was identified as Hassan Atrash, who supplied and produced weapons for Hamas’ military wing, known as the Ezzeldin al-Qassam Brigades. Likewise, he was also involved in arms smuggling from several countries to the Gaza Strip, as well as to the West Bank, where Hamas has a presence and influence.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared a video of the attack, which showed a car driving down a busy street as a red cross marked the target. At that moment, an explosion lights up the screen, and then a cloud of smoke and debris is seen at the scene.
Atrash was one of Israel’s main targets in its war against Hamas, and its elimination is a serious blow to the terrorist group’s military capabilities, the IDF said.
Palestinian media reported that Friday’s airstrike killed at least three people, including Atrash, and injured several, according to The Times of Israel.
But for now, the IDF neither confirmed nor denied this figure, and limited itself to saying that the attack was “precise and surgical.”
The attack comes amid the war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, when the group launched an unprecedented terrorist attack in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 240 hostages, including children, women and the elderly. .
Hamas’s goal has been to take control of several Israeli cities and establish an “Islamic state” in the territory.
Since then, the IDF has responded with an intense aerial bombardment campaign and a ground offensive in Gaza, aiming to rescue hostages, stop rocket fire, and eliminate Hamas leaders.
So far, more than 20,000 Palestinians have died so far in Israel’s war against Hamas, according to unconfirmed reports from Hamas’ Gaza Health Ministry.
With information from New York Post