Three senior Hamas military leaders killed in Israeli air strike

GAZA — An Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip yesterday — a clear sign of its intention to hit the group’s armed leadership days after a ceasefire failed.

Hamas, which dominates Gaza, named the men as Mr Mohammed Abu Shammala, Mr Raed Al Attar and Mr Mohammed Barhoum, its highest-ranking casualties since Israel started its offensive six weeks ago.

All three, killed in the bombing of a house in the southern town of Rafah, had led operations against Israel over the past 20 years, the Islamist movement said.

The Israeli military and Shin Bet, the internal security service, confirmed it had targeted two of the men.

Following the collapse on Tuesday of Egyptian-brokered ceasefire talks that had halted hostilities for nearly nine days, the Israeli military appears to have ramped up its efforts to hit the leadership of Hamas’ armed wing.

Late on Tuesday, the Israeli air force bombed a house in northern Gaza — an attempt, Hamas said, to assassinate Mr Mohammed Deif, its top military commander.

Mr Deif’s wife, daughter and seven-month-old son were killed but Mr Deif escaped, Hamas said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians marched at the funeral of the three Hamas commanders yesterday, firing weapons into the air in anger and calling for revenge.

“The assassination of the three Qassam leaders is a grave crime,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. “But it will not break our people and Israel will pay the price for it.”

Shin Bet said Mr Abu Shammala was head of Hamas’ southern command and described Mr Al Attar as a brigade commander.

It said the two had been leading the fight against Israel in the south of Gaza, where some of the most intense combat has occurred.

Mr Netanyahu praised the “outstanding intelligence” and said in a statement that the Hamas leaders who were killed had planned deadly attacks against Israeli civilians.

The strikes followed the first direct claim of responsibility by a Hamas leader — Salah el-Aruri, who is based in Turkey — for the June 12 abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, an event that many see as one of the triggers of the summer’s Israel-Gaza escalation.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza on July 8 with the declared aim of curbing Palestinian rocket fire into its territory. Gaza health officials say 2,061 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed.

Israeli attacks have devastated many areas in the densely-populated enclave, home to 1.8 million people, with 425,000 of people displaced, said the United Nations.

Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in the conflict, as well as three civilians in Israel.

Palestinian health officials said 26 Palestinians, including three children, the Hamas commanders and at least two other militants, were killed in Israeli air strikes yesterday.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said aircraft had bombed more than 30 sites across Gaza and that militants had fired more than 45 rockets into Israel. A mortar landed near a kindergarten in an Israeli kibbutz, badly wounding a parent of one of the children, the Israeli ambulance service said. AGENCIES