JERUSALEM, Dec. 4 — Israel’s military said on Thursday it had killed a Hamas commander and his deputy during their attempts to flee a tunnel in southern Gaza.
The military said in a statement that Muhammad Jawad Muhammad al-Bawab, commander of Hamas’ Eastern Rafah Battalion, his deputy Ismail Kanaan Abd al-Hay Abu Labdeh, and two other members of the battalion were killed as they tried to emerge from underground infrastructure in eastern Rafah.
It added that “an intelligence analysis” confirmed their deaths.
Dozens of Hamas militants remain trapped inside tunnels in Rafah. Israeli forces and the Shin Bet said they have killed more than 40 Hamas militants who attempted to exit the tunnel.
Despite a ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out daily demolitions of buildings and infrastructure, raids and strikes, killing at least 360 people and wounding 923 others in Gaza since October 11, after the ceasefire took effect, according to the Gaza health authorities. (Namibia Daily News /Xinhua)
