Israeli airstrikes pound Gaza, killing Oct. 7 terrorist as sides finalize deal
Hamas member who participated in Nova festival massacre killed in overnight airstrike, IDF says, amid dozens of attacks across enclave that terror group claims endangered a hostage
The Israel Defense Forces struck dozens of terror targets across the Gaza Strip Wednesday night and into Thursday, including a strike that killed a Hamas terrorist who participated in the massacre at the Nova music festival during the October 7, 2023, attack that started the ongoing war, the military said in a statement.
The Israeli strikes, which Hamas-aligned sources asserted killed at least 75 people and wounded hundreds more, came as Israel and Hamas appeared to be near a final agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, expected to begin on Sunday.
The agreement, if finalized, will have to be approved by the security cabinet and the full cabinet, which are expected to vote on the deal over the weekend.
According to an IDF statement Thursday, an overnight strike killed Hamas Nukhba force terrorist Muhammad Hashem Zahdi Abu al-Rous, who took part in the massacre at the music festival, where terrorists murdered more than 360 people and took dozens more hostage into the strip.
In addition to killing Rous, the more than 50 strikes over the past day eliminated several other members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and hit buildings used by the terror groups, weapon depots, rocket launchers, weapon manufacturing sites and observation posts, the IDF said.
The military added that it took numerous steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strikes, including using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence. It also noted Hamas’s use of civilian institutions and the population as human shields.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said Thursday that Israel “escalated” its strikes across the territory following the announcement of the deal; the agency said that at least 80 people were killed and hundreds more wounded. According to civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal, among those killed were 20 children and 25 women.
Bassal said teams recovered the bodies of five children after a strike in the northern town of Jabalia. AFP also reported first responders and residents searching through rubble late at night in Gaza City.
Ambulance driver Abu al-Rish told AFP that “after the ceasefire was announced and people were happy and joyful, a five-story building was targeted, with more than 50 people inside.” He added that “shelling is continuing, targeting one house after another.”
Hamas’s armed wing, meanwhile, said that the Israeli attacks were putting at risk hostages intended to be released in the deal. “Any aggression and shelling at this stage by the enemy could turn the freedom of a prisoner into a tragedy,” the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said on Telegram.
Without offering details, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, claimed that an Israeli strike had hit near a location where one of the women to be freed “in the first stage of the ceasefire deal was located.”
The deal will see the terror group release Israelis it has held hostage in Gaza, and Israel will release more than a thousand Palestinian security prisoners.
According to a leaked copy of the deal’s text, whose authenticity was confirmed to The Times of Israel, the initial six-week first phase of the ceasefire will see the gradual release of 33 Israeli hostages — including two who have been held in Gaza for many years.
During that phase, Israel is slated to gradually withdraw from the densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip. The Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt will open for civilians and wounded to leave Gaza after the release of all the female hostages in the first phase, and civilians will be able to start returning to northern Gaza a week into the deal.
On the 16th day of the first stage, negotiations are slated to begin on the terms of a second phase. If agreed, it would see the release of the remaining 65 hostages, amid further Israeli troop withdrawals and the release of more Palestinian security prisoners, amid talks that US President Joe Biden said Wednesday will lead to a “permanent end of the war.”
The deal faces opposition from far-right members of the coalition, as well as parts of the general public, including some relatives of hostages who are not among those supposed to be released during the first stage. The security cabinet is expected to meet on Friday to vote on the deal.
Although the agreement has enough support to be approved by the security cabinet and the government — and thus to go into effect — some ministers have threatened to leave the government if Israel does not resume fighting after the first phase, and the political consequences for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, if the deal is approved, remain in the air.
Also Thursday, sirens sounded in the community of Nir Am, on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, and the IDF said a projectile had fallen in an open area. After further investigation, the military said it was a “false identification,” meaning no rockets were launched from Gaza.
It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
According to Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza, more than 46,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has also said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 407.
