Hamas, the armed group that controls Gaza, stated on Sunday that certainly one of its prime commanders had been killed in its conflict with Israel there.
The announcement from Hamas got here on the third day of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the discharge of hostages held in Gaza in alternate for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israel has vowed it can proceed its navy marketing campaign within the enclave after the truce is scheduled to finish on Tuesday morning, with its major purpose being the destruction of Hamas.
On Sunday morning the navy wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, issued a short assertion saying that Abu Anas al-Ghandour, who led the group’s fighters in northern Gaza, and three different commanders had been killed. It didn’t present additional particulars on when or the place that they had died.
The Israeli navy stated earlier this month that it had focused Mr. al-Ghandour in a strike on Hamas’s underground infrastructure, based on The Instances of Israel, however didn’t say on the time whether or not he had been killed.
A variety of different Hamas officers and commanders are believed to have been killed since Israel launched a conflict in retaliation for the group’s Oct. 7 assaults, which killed an estimated 1,200 folks in southern Israel and led to the kidnapping of roughly 240 hostages, based on Israeli authorities.
Mr. al-Ghandour was essentially the most senior commander that Hamas has confirmed useless for the reason that group’s announcement final month that Ayman Nofal, a member of its Basic Army Council and the commander of the Central Brigade within the Qassam Brigades, had been killed.
The State Division put Mr. al-Ghandour beneath U.S. sanctions in 2017, saying that he had been “concerned in lots of terrorist operations” — together with a 2006 assault that killed two Israeli troopers and led to the kidnapping of one other, Gilad Shalit.
Mr. Shalit was launched in October 2011 in alternate for greater than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. A type of freed within the deal, Yahya Sinwar, ultimately grew to become Hamas’s chief in Gaza and, based on Israeli officers, a mastermind of the Oct. 7 assaults.
