Hamas Loses Two Top Commanders in a Day: Israel

Israel has said that it has killed a Hamas commander in an air strike, making him the latest leader from the militant group said to have been eliminated in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli fighter jets struck the commander of the Hamas Naval Forces of the Gaza City Brigade, Ratib Abu Tzahiban, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli intelligence, quoted by media outlets on Saturday. Newsweek has yet to confirm these claims.

Tzahiban had planned and commanded the naval infiltration attempt carried out on October 24, which was thwarted by Israeli naval forces, Israel said. It was unclear if the Israeli military was referring to the incident when Hamas divers were repelled after trying to infiltrate Israel on a beach north of Gaza. Aerial footage released by Israel's military purports to show the missile striking the target that killed Tzahiban.

Earlier, the IDF had said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that its fighter jets killed the head of Hamas Aerial Array, Asem Abu Rakaba. He had taken part in the attack on communities surrounding the Gaza Strip on October 7 in which 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and over 200 were taken hostage, Israel said. The Palestinian death toll has passed 7,300, according to the Associated Press.

The Hamas leader was also said to have directed those who had "infiltrated Israel on paragliders" and had helped coordinate drone attacks on IDF posts.

On Friday, the IDF also said that, the previous night, it had killed Madhath Mubashar, commander of the Western Khan Yunis Battalion of Hamas. He had taken part in explosives and sniper attacks against Israeli civilian communities and IDF soldiers.

It comes as Israel announced an expanded ground operation in Gaza. It has increased its bombardment and artillery fire overnight as anticipation builds over a full-scale Israeli invasion aimed at crushing Hamas for its October 7 attack.

Israel has said its troops and tanks remain on the ground in Gaza and that its airforce struck 150 underground targets, or what it describes as terror tunnels. Communication networks in Gaza have gone down, resulting in a lack of information in and out of the strip.

However, Hamas has declared Israel's overnight ground incursion to be a failure. It said in a statement on Saturday that its military arm, Al-Qassam Brigades, used anti-tank Kornet rockets and mortar shelling to repel the attack, the Associated Press reported.

Al-Qassam Brigades said on Friday that its fighters were clashing with Israeli troops in Beit Hanoun in northwestern Gaza and in Al-Bureij in central Gaza.

The military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, Al-Quds Brigades, said it had fired a barrage of rockets Saturday morning on the Kissufim kibbutz in the northwestern Negev desert in Israel.

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