A massive strike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday targeted Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar, media reports said.
The Israel Defense Forces, which did not confirm if Sinwar was killed, said in a statement that it had targeted Hamas operatives at an underground command centre belonging to the terror group, below the European Hospital in Khan Younis, reported The Times of Israel.
Sharing details about the strike, IDF wrote on X: “The IDF and ISA conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists in a command and control centre, located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, a short while ago.”
The IDF said Hamas is continuing to use hospitals in Gaza for terrorist activity.
“Prior to, and during the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” the X post said.
Journalist Killed In Strike
IDF confirmed that journalist Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih was killed in a strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.
IDF identified the journalist as a Hamas leader.
IDF wrote on X: “Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih, a terrorist from the Hamas Khan Yunis brigade, was eliminated along with other terrorists in the ‘Nasser’ hospital in Khan Yunis.”
Aslih reportedly documented the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
IDF said Aslih participated in the ‘brutal massacre’ in the guise of a scribe.
“Aslih participated in the brutal October 7 massacre under the guise of a journalist and owner of a news network. During the massacre, he documented acts of murder, looting, and arson, posting the footage online, IDF said.
Gaza Children Starving
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can now expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Since the aid blockade began on 2 March, 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition, according to the Ministry of Health.
If the situation persists, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next 11 months.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, WHO’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, said that Israel’s complete aid embargo has left only enough WHO supplies to treat 500 children with acute malnutrition – “a fraction of the urgent need”.
“People are trapped in this cycle where a lack of diversified food, malnutrition and disease fuel each other,” he warned.
Peeperkorn’s comments follow the publication on Monday of a new analysis by the UN-backed food security alert scale known as the IPC, showing that one in five people in Gaza – 500,000 – faces starvation, while the entire 2.1 million population of the Strip is subjected to prolonged food shortages. WHO is a member of the IPC.
(With inputs from IBNS)
