More than a month after an Israeli airstrike in a humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said the head of the Islamist Hamas group’s air unit was among the dead.
Samer Abu Daqqa was directly involved in the October 7, 2023 massacre and was partly responsible for the invasion of Israeli territory with paragliders and drones, the Israeli military said on Telegram.
He had been head of the air unit since October 2023, after his predecessor was assassinated by the Israeli army. According to the military, he previously headed Hamas’s drone unit and was responsible for the terrorist organization’s weapons production.
The Israeli military’s statements could not immediately be verified.
According to Palestinian reports, at least 19 people were killed and 60 others injured in the airstrike in a humanitarian area in the closed coastal strip in early September.
At the time, the Israeli military said the attack targeted senior Hamas terrorists in a hidden command center, without naming specific people or the positions they held.
Ten killed in attack in northern Gaza
At least 10 people were killed and another 40 injured as they queued for food at a UN distribution center in an Israeli attack on northern Gaza, according to witness accounts.
Witnesses told dpa by phone that the line at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) distribution center in Jabalia was hit by Israeli shells.
The Israeli military said it is investigating the claims.
At least 25 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on a former school and hospital in the war-torn Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian information.
The Israeli army said it had attacked a Hamas command center embedded in the building that previously served as a hospital.
