Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had killed the regional head of Hamas intelligence in an airstrike in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. The attack took place in the early morning hours, an army spokesman said on Monday. The army also released a video of the attack on Twitter (X). The name of the member of the Islamic group Hamas, which governs Gaza, was not mentioned. Israel also attacked the Gaza border crossing into Egypt.
As AFP journalists reported, the area around the border crossing was hit by an attack on Monday. Hundreds of Palestinians waited there to leave the isolated coastal strip.
The Rafah border crossing, which was bombed three times in 24 hours by the Israeli Air Force early last week, remained closed on Monday. It is the only border crossing into the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel. For days, Palestinians with foreign passports have been waiting in vain for passage, including numerous children. Long convoys of trucks carrying aid deliveries are also backed up on the Egyptian side.
Following Hamas’ major attack on October 7, the Israeli army placed the Gaza Strip under constant fire and completely isolated the densely populated coastal area. The Israeli military is also preparing a large-scale ground offensive and has urged 1.1 million residents in the northern Gaza Strip to flee south. According to Palestinian information, so far around 2,750 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli sources, more than 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas attack and at least 199 others were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.