From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 11, 2023
IDF says it waited 2 days to kill top Jihad commander who was using human shields
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF vows to keep targeting senior Islamic Jihad commanders but says it waited two days to kill the deputy head of the rocket force because he was using human shields.
Head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, says the military will continue with targeted killings of members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, after the latest strike killed a senior member.
“We started with the [senior] command in the opening strike. From there we continued for a second attack last night where we killed the head of the rocket array. And now we killed his deputy,” Toledano tells reporters.
He says Ali Ghali, who was killed last night, and Ahmad Abu Deka, who was killed a short while ago, are both “responsible for the rockets.”
“The important idea is to reach those people who make use of human shields to protect themselves from us, and conduct fighting from urban areas,” Toledano says.
“There is a very impressive work here by our intelligence, with an emphasis on the Shin Bet, extraordinary work by the Air Force,” he adds.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagarai adds that the military was watching Abu Deka for two days before targeting him.
“We were waiting for him to be separated from the family he used as a human shield,” Hagari says.
