Israel eliminates Hamas naval commando in Gaza strike Photo

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed the killing of a Hamas naval commando in a joint air and sea operation in the Gaza Strip.

According to a statement released by the IDF spokesperson, Ahmad Osama Hassan al-Lahwani, a member of Hamas’s elite naval commando unit, was eliminated in the strike, Caliber.Az reports per Israeli media.

He was reportedly involved in the October 7, 2023, assault on Israel launched from Gaza.

The operation was carried out by the Israeli Air Force and Navy as part of the ongoing “Operation Gideon’s Chariots.”

“Naval vessels and missile boats are conducting offensive operations from the sea in close coordination with ground forces operating inside Gaza,” the IDF said.

It added that the Israeli Navy’s operational command continues to target the maritime infrastructure of militants in collaboration with the military’s Southern Command.

Over the past 48 hours, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed more than a dozen Palestinian children, as the territory faces worsening famine conditions. The World Food Programme warned that over 70,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition.

Among the recent victims is four-year-old Mohammed Yassine, who died from starvation on May 25. The death toll from Israeli bombardments and ground assaults has reached around 600 in under a week.

In central Gaza, a strike on a displacement camp in Deir el-Balah killed a mother and her children, while a drone attack in Bani Suheila claimed the life of a child in a family tent. Five people, including two women and a child, were killed in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya area.

Eleven-year-old social media personality Yaqeen Hammad and nine of Dr Alaa Amir al-Najjar’s ten children were also killed in separate Israeli air raids. Dr al-Najjar’s surviving child, Adam, is in critical condition.

By Aghakazim Guliyev