By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday that Hamas no longer exists as a military formation, shortly after Hamas-linked authorities said a massive Israeli strike killed dozens in southern Gaza.
“Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare, and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership,” Gallant told journalists about the outcome of the nearly one-year war against Hamas.
His remarks followed an Israeli strike on Mawasi, a coastal tent encampment in southern Gaza that Israeli forces designated a humanitarian zone.
Hamas-backed officials said at least 40 people were killed and 60 injured in the attack as tents caught fire, but Israel disputed these figures.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they struck a Hamas command and control center hidden there and targeted “a number of senior” Hamas figures embedded within the humanitarian zone.
Israel’s military accused them of being “directly involved” in the October 7 assault on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, including babies, and of planning to carry out further attacks on Israelis.
Hamas called the IDF’s claims “a blatant lie” and accused Israel of trying to justify “these heinous crimes” without mentioning its massacre that triggered the war.
UN CONDEMNATION
A United Nations envoy was quick to condemn the Israeli “air strike on a humanitarian zone” in war-ravaged Gaza.
“I strongly condemn today’s deadly air strikes by Israel on a densely populated area in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering,” added the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, in a statement.
Although Israel stresses it targeted a Hamas command center, Wennesland noted that international humanitarian law “must be upheld at all times.”
Wennesland also made clear that “civilians must never be used as human shields.”
Israel’s government has repeatedly accused Hamas of hiding weapons and fighters among civilians.
At least 41,020 people in Gaza have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, including dozens over the last day, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel mentioned slightly lower figures and said nearly half of the victims were Hamas-related combatants.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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