Jerusalem, Nov 16 (EFE).- The Israeli Army continues its offensive by air, sea and land in the Gaza Strip this Thursday, where it destroyed the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Political Bureau of the Islamist group Hamas, while it prepares to deepen the attacks in the south of the enclave.
“During the night, fighter jets of the Israel Defense Forces attacked the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Political Bureau,” who has lived in exile in Qatar for years, an Army spokesman said.
That house “was used as a terrorist infrastructure and often served as a meeting point for senior Hamas leaders to direct terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers,” he explained.
This operation was carried out in the Al Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip near the Mediterranean, where Israeli troops “located and destroyed a weapons depot of Hamas naval forces, which contained equipment of diving, explosive devices and weapons,” the spokesperson said.
During the operation, Israeli soldiers clashed with militants and confiscated explosive belts, explosive barrels, anti-tank missiles, communications equipment and intelligence documents.
Since the war began, more than a month ago, Palestinian media reported the deaths of around fifteen members of Haniyeh’s family due to Israeli attacks, including a brother, a nephew and a granddaughter.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amir Abdolahian has met with Haniyeh at least twice in Qatar since the escalation began, a gesture of public support.
On the other hand, the Israeli Army continues to surround the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where on Wednesday it carried out a “precise and selective” operation, according to a military spokesman.
The Israeli Army claimed to have found in that medical center, where some 3,000 patients – among them 36 newborns -, medical personnel and displaced people are sheltering, “a command center, weapons and technological assets” of Hamas, while the personnel who work there denies any military activity.
The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, described this incursion as a “war crime” and denounced this Thursday that Israeli troops “deliberately destroyed the radiology machines and many medical devices located in the basement of the Specialized Surgery Building.”
In addition to these operations in the north of the Strip, the Israeli Army is preparing to take the south, where some 1.7 million Gazans have been displaced, more than two-thirds of the population.
On Wednesday, the Army called for the evacuation of several towns in the Khan Yunis governorate through leaflets dropped from the air.
All of this occurs amid growing international pressure for a ceasefire, which Israel has vehemently refused.
Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 after a massive attack by the Islamist group that included the launching of thousands of rockets and the infiltration into Israeli territory of some 3,000 militiamen who massacred some 1,200 people and kidnapped another 240.
Since then, Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have relentlessly attacked the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 11,300 dead, 29,200 injured and 3,600 missing under the rubble.
In addition, 42,000 homes, 255 schools, 96 government structures, 72 mosques and three churches were completely destroyed, while 25 hospitals and 52 health centers were out of service.
