From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Report claims Israel tried to kill senior Hamas man
A Channel 10 reporter said late Tuesday that prior to the recent massive rocket barrage, Israel tried to assassinate a senior Hamas figure in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
Alon Ben-David tweeted that Israeli officials refused to comment on rumors that the target of the assassination attempt was the secretive Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif.
Deif, believed by some to be coordinating Hamas attacks on Israel in recent weeks, has survived several Israeli assassination attempts over the years.
לפני הירי: נסיון חיסול של בכיר חמאס בשייח רדואן. בישראל מסרבים לאשר האם מדובר במחמד דף והאם נפגע
— Alon Ben-David (@alonbd) August 19, 2014
Similarly, members of the Palestinian delegation to Cairo said Tuesday’s evening’s barrage of rocket fire by Hamas was launched in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Gaza Strip.
Channel 2 suggested the strike may have targeted the house of a senior Hamas member in the coastal enclave.
