Team News Riveting
Jerusalem, October 17
The devastating Israeli airstrike on the Central Gaza Strip region of Al Bureij killed senior Hamas military commander Ayman Nofal, who is believed to be the head of Al-Qassam Brigades.
Nofal alias ‘Abu Ahmed’ was a member of the Brigades’ General Military Council and in charge of the Central Gaza operations. Earlier today, the Israeli occupation army said that it attacked 200 targets in Gaza overnight, hitting what it claimed to be Hamas’s operational headquarters.
In a recent interview with Aljazeera, Nofal had said that the next “confrontation with the Israeli occupation would be taken through a collective and well-calculated decision from the Joint Operation Room of all Palestinian Resistance groups combined.”
Nofal is also known for spearheading efforts at combining the efforts of 40 Palestinian military branches throughout Gaza to operate under 10 different commands, all under a single leadership.
According to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Nofal, as part of his role, carried out “numerous attacks against Israel and security forces.” He was also previously involved in the production and development of weapons and had been involved in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilat Shalit in 2006. The military added that Nofal was “one of the most dominant senior officials in the organization, and was close to Muhammad Deif,” Hamas’s military leader.
At least 70 Palestinians were killed in the intense bombardment of densely populated areas in Khan Younis and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip in a single round of Israeli strikes. Also, earlier today, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the latest casualties in the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, estimating that 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and that 12,500 have been wounded, most of them women and children.
On Monday, it was estimated that at least 1,000 Palestinians are trapped under the rubble of their homes in Gaza.
On October 7, the Hamas militants in Gaza launched the operation and penetrated Israeli walls and fences, besieging the crowded Strip. They believed to have killed and wounded thousands of Israeli soldiers and settlers in that region.
