Senior Hamas officials killed in Gaza strikes, IDF says; 9 Palestinians reported dead

The Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy carried out strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight into Thursday, killing top commanders in Hamas’s general security mechanism, the military announced.

According to health officials in Gaza, at least nine Palestinians were killed in strikes on four apartments early on Thursday.

Hassan Labad, the deputy head of the security mechanism, along with senior officials Asem Shabir, Abdullah Abu Kaloub, and Mohammed Abu Marek, were killed in the strikes, the Israel Defense Forces said.

“The senior officials of the general security mechanism were eliminated to remove a threat, after they were recently involved in attempts to rebuild the Hamas terror organization and assisted the organization’s senior leadership in advancing terror activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops,” the military said in a statement.

The security mechanism, according to the IDF, is a clandestine Hamas body responsible for security for top Hamas officials, communications between them, coordinating their meetings, and transporting them between emergency sites.

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The mechanism is also responsible for producing intelligence assessments, “which assists the organization’s senior leadership in decision-making and in carrying out terror plans against the State of Israel,” the IDF added.

Gaza health officials said five members of the same family were among the dead. Medics said four apartments were hit, including the family’s home, before dawn. At least 15 other people were wounded.

The fatalities were the latest in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

Some 930 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since ⁠the truce began, according to figures from Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Hamas rarely publishes information about deaths among its fighters.

Hamas terrorists have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel has said that its strikes are in response to violations of the truce or threats to its troops.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught that saw some 1,200 people killed and 251 others taken hostage.

Flotilla says 11 activists detained in Libya

At least 11 international activists attempting to bring attention to Israel’s blockade of Gaza have been detained in Libya for more than a week while trying to reach the territory by land, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.

According to Libyan media, the activists were detained in connection with illegal entry and lack of permits. The Global Sumud organizers said the participants all had valid visas.

The organization led a flotilla earlier this spring consisting of dozens of boats, which was intercepted before reaching Gaza. Hundreds of activists were deported via Israel and Greece. Israel accused the flotilla of being a “PR stunt” carrying very small amounts of aid.

More than 200 health workers and activists have been attempting a separate route overland to reach Gaza, starting in Mauritania on May 15, and were heading towards Egypt to try to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

According to the organization, a Tunisian national was arrested on May 19, around 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Libya-Tunisia border while returning home. Another 10 people were detained on May 24 while trying to negotiate safe passage for their convoy at a checkpoint near Sitre, Libya, along the Mediterranean coast, less than halfway between Tunisia and Egypt.

The organization said Libyan authorities first announced the detention of the activists, who hail from Tunisia, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, the US, Uruguay, Poland, and Spain, on May 25, and that the detention was extended another 10 days on Tuesday.

The organization condemned the detentions as “unlawful” and “arbitrary.”