The Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck Hamas terrorists Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, Ayman Mabhouh, and Osama Tabesh in a strike in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday.
The terrorists were operating within a terrorist command and control center embedded in a designated humanitarian area of Khan Yunis, the IDF added.
The military specified that Mabhouh was a senior Hamas terrorist, Abu Daqqa was the head of Hamas’s Aerial Unit in Gaza, and Tabesh served as chief of the Observation and Targets Department in the terror group's Military Intelligence Headquarters.
The military further noted that all three had been directly involved in the October 7 massacre and had carried out attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel.
Prior to the strike, the military assured that numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional means.
The terrorists, located in a designated Humanitarian Zone, had been identified by ISA intelligence. Prior to the strike, aerial surveillance ascertained that the terrorists were in the area.
The IDF noted that the numbers cited by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza regarding the casualties in the strike were not in line with the data the military had, the precise munition used in the strike, and the accuracy with which the strike had been carried out.
Earlier, the IDF announced the IAF had struck “significant” Hamas terrorist members.
Hamas's claims on the strike
Medics and Hamas claimed at least 14 Palestinians were killed in the airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Residents and medics said a tent encampment in the Al-Mawasi area, which is designated as a humanitarian zone, was struck by at least four missiles.
The Hamas-run Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught on fire, and missiles caused craters as deep as nine meters (30 feet).
Hamas's use of civilian areas for terrorist activities
Hamas has repeatedly been recorded using civilians as shields during their terrorist operations during and before the start of the war. For example, in July, Hamas’s military commander Mohammad Deif was eliminated in an airstrike on a humanitarian area in Khan Yunis.
The terror group has been repeatedly caught utilizing school buildings in Khan Yunis and other parts of Gaza as control centers to plan attacks against Israel.
REUTERS contributed to this report.