Israel Kills Hamas Operations Commander in Gaza Airstrike

Israel claims killing Hamas operations commander in air strike

Jerusalem, May 17

"IDF forces in the Southern Command eliminated Bahaa Baroud yesterday, a commander in the operations headquarters of the Hamas terror organisation," the IDF said on social media platform X.

It detailed that Baroud operated throughout the war and particularly in recent times to plan and advance numerous terror plots by Hamas against the IDF forces in the Gaza Strip and the citizens of Israel.

"Baroud posed an immediate threat to IDF forces and was eliminated in a precise aerial strike," the IDF claimed.

It emphasised that steps were taken prior to the strike to minimise harm to civilians, including the use of precise weaponry and aerial observations.

The IDF last week claimed that it had destroyed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad weapons production site and weapons storage facility in northern Gaza.​

The IDF said that "the site had been used by the organisation's production array, as well as by Hamas for the production of explosive devices and the storage of additional weapons intended to harm Israeli civilians and Israel Defence Forces troops".​

The IDF under the Southern Command are deployed in the area.​

The IDF last month noted that it had destroyed 14 km of underground tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip.

It mentioned that, as part of the operation, the brigade's forces, in cooperation with fighters from the Yahalam unit, have so far destroyed around 14 km of underground tunnels. Sleeping rooms and numerous weapons were located inside the tunnels as the brigade's forces continued the mission of clearing the area.

The IDF said that the Northern Brigade forces and the Yahalam unit under the command of Division 252 have been operating in recent months in a targeted operation to destroy Hamas' underground infrastructure, in the northern Gaza Strip in general and in the Beit Hanoun area east of the Yellow Line, in particular.

— IANS