Israel kills key Hamas commander in airstrike as it launches first ground missions in Gaza
14 October 2023, 10:05
Israel has killed a key Hamas commander in an airstrike as it begins its first ground missions in Gaza.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Murad Abu Murad, who was the head of Hamas' aerial operations, was killed in an overnight strike on Hamas' headquarters for aerial activity, the Israeli Defence Forces said.
Abu Murad had "a big part in directing terrorists during the massacre" last weekend, which saw gunmen enter Israel from the air on paragliders.
It comes after the Israeli military announced on Friday evening that it had entered parts of the Gaza Strip on the ground for the first time in a bid to hunt down Hamas and search for hostages.
Dozens of Merkava main battle tanks rolled into Gaza alongside elite troops intended to track people down.
The IDF confirmed that over 120 civilians were being held captive in Gaza. Bodies of some of the Israelis seized were recovered by the army.
On Saturday morning, an Israel Defence Force spokesman said: "Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies and we do not target them as such."
He added: "We are trying to do the right thing, we are trying to evacuate civilians in order to minimise the risk for them."
Civilians living in northern Gaza - who are still yet to evacuate - have been told to use two roads to head south between 10am and 4pm local time "without any harm".
It comes after Israel issued a 24-hour warning to Gazans on Thursday urging them to flee northern Gaza for the south as it prepared to launch a ground invasion.
It is unclear how many of the 1.1million people that were urged to flee northern Gaza were able to get out in time.
The United Nations described Israel's order to Gazans as "horrendous".
Read More: French terror attack 'linked to Israel-Hamas conflict', minister says, as terror alert level raised
Speaking after "localised raids" had begun, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "destroy Hamas".
"Today, everyone knows that we’re fighting for the homeland, and we’re fighting like lions,” he said.
“We’ll never forget the Hamas onslaught. We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might,” Netanyahu added.
“We will destroy Hamas, and we will win, but it will take time."
Meanwhile, the United States has urged Israel to take every precaution in order to avoid innocent lives being lost.
Israel's decision to deploy troops into Gaza is the first of its kind since Saturday's attack.
Infantry and tank units were involved in the raids, which were aimed against rocket insurgents.
"Over the past 24 hours, IDF forces carried out localised raids inside the territory of the Gaza Strip to complete the effort to cleanse the area of terrorists and weaponry," a statement from the IDF said on Friday.
"During these operations, there was also an effort to locate missing persons."
Israel has called up hundreds of thousands of reservists to bolster its army ahead of the attack, and has kept the densely populated, heavily urban area under air attack.
Hamas claimed on Friday evening that 70 people, primarily women and children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on convoys fleeing Gaza City.
It comes after Israel was accused of using white phosphorus in Gaza, the use of which is legal to make smoke screens, but not cause burns or start fires.
"The current accusation made against the IDF regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false," the IDF said.
Hamas has continued to fire rockets after its gunmen rampaged through southern Israel, massacring civilians and kidnapping innocent people to hold in Gaza. It is though they hold at least 120 people.
It has led to more than 1,000 deaths on both sides after a week of violence.
Fighting in the urban area is expected to be extremely tough. The area is heavily built up and Hamas will have prepared defences against invading Israelis.
Besides the usual tactics Hamas and other terror groups have available to them, it is feared an extensive tunnel network exists around the strip, making fighting the insurgents even tougher.
