According to at least one freed hostage, more detained Israelis are being held in the underground tunnels. The Gaza Strip is isolated from the Internet. It is also not possible to make contact with the outside world via cell phone.
Several Hamas “terrorists” were reportedly killed in the night attacks. Israel also carried out massive airstrikes.
Hamas drone leader “deactivated”
The person responsible for Hamas air defense and co-planner of the October 7 terrorist attack was among those killed. According to the secret service, a fighter jet had “dropped” Asem Abu Rakaba, the military announced. Abu Rakaba is said to have been responsible for drones, paragliders, and aerial reconnaissance and defense for Hamas.
The Israeli army released a video showing the explosion of a building in mid-air. According to Israeli sources, Abu Rakaba helped plan the bloody attack on October 7 in the border area between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in which more than 1,400 people died and the attackers kidnapped more than 200 others as hostages. He was responsible for drone strikes and coordinated fighters who advanced into Israeli territory using paragliders, it was said.
According to Israel, Saturday night’s attack was not about the massive ground offensive that had been expected for weeks the Israeli side says they acted.
Current information about the war in Israel can be found on the PULS 24 live blog:
Israel has been massively bombing targets in the Gaza Strip since the attack by Hamas, which the EU and the US classify as a terrorist organization. The military also mobilized around 300,000 reservists and gathered forces near the Gaza Strip for a possible ground offensive. On Saturday night, Israel again attacked other targets in Gaza.