Israel Kills Senior Hamas Commanders in Rafah

Jerusalem, 27 May, 2024 (TPS) -- Israel identified the targets of a Sunday night airstrike in Rafah as Hamas commanders responsible for overseeing terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday morning. Unconfirmed reports suggest that a fire caused by exploding Hamas munitions spread to a nearby camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah’s Tal as Sultan neighborhood.

Casualty figures cited by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry could not be independently verified.

The main target of the airstrike was Yassin Rabia, the commander of Hamas’s Judea and Samaria operations. He succeeded Salah Arouri in that role after Arouri was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in January. Rabia managed the entirety of Hamas’ terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria, transferring and planning terror attacks. He was responsible for personally killing soldiers in attacks dating back to 2001.

Also killed with Rabia was Khaled Nagar, another senior figure who helped organize and fund terror attacks in Judea and Samaria. He too killed Israeli soldiers in terror attacks dating back to 2001.

“The strike was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, using precise munitions and on the basis of precise intelligence that indicated Hamas’ use of the area,” the IDF said in a statement.

“The IDF is aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review,” the statement added.

On Sunday afternoon, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at the Tel Aviv metropolitan area for the first time in four months. The night before, the IDF destroyed rocket launchers in Rafah that were targeting the Kerem Shalom border crossing, a key transit point for trucks delivering humanitarian aid from Gaza.

The attack also came against the backdrop of a ruling by the International Court of Justice on Friday whose ambiguous wording is unlikely to curtail military activity in Rafah.

Rafah sits on the Gaza-Egypt border and is Hamas’s last stronghold with an estimated four battalions. Israel’s delegation of the ICJ told the judges that of the 700 tunnels located in Rafah by the army, approximately 50 crossed into Egypt. Those tunnels are used for weapons smuggling and could also be used to take hostages out of the Strip.

Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing on May 7 to prevent Hamas from commandeering humanitarian aid deliveries from Egypt.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 125 remaining hostages, 39 are believed dead.