The Israel Defense Force claimed that it killed a top Hamas commander in an overnight airstrike in Gaza. In a strike that hit the headquarters of Hamas aerial activities, Israeli Air Force (IAF) said Murad Abu Murad, the head of Hamas’s air force, was killed, according to an official post.
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“Last night, IAF fighter jets conducted wide-scale strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. These included dozens of Hamas terror targets as well as 'Nukhba' terrorist operatives that were in a staging ground in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli Air Force tweeted.
Abu Murad is responsible for directing Hamas attackers who crossed the Israeli border from the air on hang gliders last Saturday, according to The Times of Israel.
“Also, during the last day, fighter jets of the Air Force attacked the operational headquarters of the terrorist organization Hamas, from where the organization's aerial activities were managed. During the attack, Murad Abu Murad, the head of the air formation in Gaza City who took a large part and directed terrorists in the murderous attack on Saturday, was killed," the report said.
In another set of “widespread” strikes overnight, the IAF hit dozens of sites belonging to Hamas’s commando forces. “Fighter jets of the Air Force simultaneously attacked in a wide wave of attacks dozens of military targets and operatives of the terrorist organization Hamas, who were in the staging areas throughout the Gaza Strip tonight. The Najaba forces were the main forces that infiltrated the surrounding settlements last Saturday,” IAF posted.
The Air Force added that (Israeli Defence Force) IDF soldiers identified a terrorist cell which attempted to infiltrate from Lebanon into Israeli territory, following which an “IAF UAV targeted the terrorist cell and killed a number of the terrorists.“