Israel says Hamas marine commander killed in Gaza attack

The Israeli military said on Wednesday a recent airstrike killed the commander of Hamas’s naval unit in Gaza City, accusing him of “attacks” against troops during the seven-month war.

Mohammed Ahmed Ali was killed in an airstrike “last day,” the military said in a statement.

When asked about Ali’s killing, Hamas did not immediately comment.

Sources in the Palestinian militant group said he was a member of its armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.

The military’s statement said that “During the war, Ali was responsible for attacks on Israeli territory and against IDF (army) ground forces operating in the Gaza Strip,” including in the center of the Gaza Strip last week.

Since war broke out on October 7 following the Palestinian group’s attack on southern Israel, Hamas’s armed wing has been engaged in fierce fighting with Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam Brigades regularly fire rockets into Israeli territory and on Sunday caused a barrage at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza, killing four soldiers.

According to a Hamas report on October 7, more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, died AFP The figures are based on official Israeli figures.

The Israeli army did not say whether it believed Ali was involved in planning or carrying out the attack.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in the Gaza Strip killed at least 34,844 people, most of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled territory.