A SENIOR Hamas commander has reportedly been killed in an Israeli airstrike which blew him up along with his wife.
Talal al-Hindi, a field commander in brutal al-Qassam brigades – Hamas’ military wing – was killed in a strike in the Gaza Strip, according to a news agency linked to the terror group.
Hamas commander Talal Al Hindi has been killed
EPAAl Hindi was blown up in his home after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza[/caption]
He is understood to have been killed at his home while sheltering with his wife Fadwa, his daughter Israa, and her daughter Baraa.
Israel is currently striking at Hamas’ leadership following the massacre of some 1,400 Israelis by the terror group on October 7.
It is seen as the precursor to a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Al-Hindi’s reported death comes just days after fellow Hamas commander, Jehad Mheisen, was also blown up after an Israeli airstrike on his house.
The top commander was killed with his family in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan, a Hamas-aligned news agency said.
A third Hamas top commander, Ayman Nofal, was also blown up in an Israeli airstrike.
Ayman Nofal, who was in charge of the Central Gaza area in the armed wing Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, the most high-profile Hamas militant to be assassinated so far.
Nofal’s death came hours after the IDF confirmed it had killed senior Hamas official Dr Osama Mazini.
A clip shared on social media showed the bombing in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis last night
Dr Mazini, who was understood to have been the Primary Hamas Negotiator for the 2011 prisoner swap, was taken out in the blast.
He handled the file of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas in Gaza for five years.
Today, Israel reportedly approved plans to launch a ground invasion of Gaza as aid trucks rolled in and some 700,000 people have evacuated as the bombs continue to rain down.
Tens of thousands of troops and huge columns of tanks are massed on the border with the tiny enclave as the humanitarian aid began being shipped in this morning from the southern border with Egypt.
The Israel Defence Forces have approved “plans for the expansion of the fighting” and have vowed the begin the long-awaited ground invasion “soon”, reports The Times of Israel.
And tensions continue to rise as Israel arrested more than 600 “wanted Palestinians” across the West Bank – and a reported 450 affiliated with Hamas.
And the Israeli Military has reportedly dropped thousands of leaflets informing citizens that they would be “identified as a partner in a terrorist organisation” if they didn’t move south in Gaza.
Earlier this morning the only border crossing with Egypt finally opened, as large trucks packed with supplies crossed the border to provide a “lifeline” for the some two million people in Gaza.
It comes as Israel claimed that 700,000 residents of Gaza City and the surrounding areas have fled to the southern regions.
Hamas is known to use the suffering residents of the tiny region as human shields – with more than 4,100 dying since strikes began on Gaza.
Israel is expected to unleash hundreds of thousands of troops and huge columns of tanks in the coming days as they attempt to flush out the terrorist group after they massacred 1,400 civilians on October 7.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, half of whom have fled their homes, have been forced to ration food and drink filthy water.
Hospitals are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators amid a territory-wide power blackout due to air strikes.
In the two weeks of chaos, more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed and more than 4,100 people have died in Gaza.
EPAIsrael has massed tanks and soldiers near the Gaza border ahead of a ground invasion[/caption]