The IDF killed five Hamas senior officials in Rafah, southern Gaza, over the past week thanks to intelligence provided by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Military Intelligence, the IDF reported Wednesday.
The senior officials ran Hamas’s Rafah Emergency Bureau, managing the terrorist group’s military and governance activities in humanitarian zones, as well as coordinating with operatives in the field.
They were identified as Nidal Aleed, the head of the operation; Hdi Abu Alrus Kasin, an operations officer; Muhammad Aud Almelalakhi and Osama Hamd Zaher, responsible for eastern Rafah; and Sayid Katab Alkhashash, responsible for northern Rafah.
The IDF and Shin Bet operation at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza continued for the third straight day on Wednesday. Ninety terrorists were killed, and 160 were apprehended, the IDF said.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi visited Shifa and praised the forces.
Other recent operations in Gaza
Troops from the 215th Combat Brigade directed an IAF aircraft to strike and kill six terrorists in Jabalya in northern Gaza.
In Khan Yunis, troops killed two terrorists and hit military sites in al-Qarara.
“The year 2024 will be one of war and victory,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday. “We need to draft all... sectors of the nation and of society to ensure our qualitative and quantitative advantages” against Israel’s adversaries.
In the West Bank, the IDF said it carried out a targeted attack on a vehicle in Jenin on Wednesday. Three terrorists were killed, including the one responsible for the death of Meir Tamari near Hermesh last May.
In the North, the IDF attacked several Hezbollah positions on Wednesday, including the Hula, Kfar Kila, and Yaroun areas. Hezbollah fired several rockets at Yaron, Mount Dov, Misgav Am, and Margaliot. In response, the IDF attacked the sources of the rockets.
The IDF released a video on Wednesday of IAF fighter jets in attacks a few weeks ago against a Hezbollah weapons depot in the Baalbek region of Lebanon, some 100 kilometers away from the Israeli border.
In the video, multiple explosions can be seen after the initial strike, which the military said indicated the presence of explosives hidden in a residential area.
The video shows “further proof of Hezbollah’s modus operandi in which it stores explosives and dangerous chemical substances in civilian villages,” the IDF said.
Hezbollah and the Shi’ite Amal Movement have been using ambulances for transporting terrorists and weapons in southern Lebanon, Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, said late Tuesday.
The two terrorist movements use ambulances belonging to the Islamic Health Organization, a Shi’ite healthcare organization closely affiliated with Hezbollah, he said. The organization says on its website it has always “provided services for the activity of the Hezbollah fighters against the Zionist occupation.”
According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, more than 20 of the organization’s operatives have been killed while fighting as part of Hezbollah. Several members of the organization have been killed in the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah since October as well.
Adraee said the IDF had discovered that Hezbollah and Amal were using a yellow ambulance operated by Sheet Cargo, headed by Hassam Muhammad Sheet, who also runs the local government in Kafr Kila, Lebanon.