Israeli forces have continued their land, sea and air strikes on Gaza in recent hours and announced that they killed Wael Abu Fanounah, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad, on Thursday (18).
“Israeli army ground, air and naval forces conducted joint operational activities in the Gaza Strip,” the military spokesman said.
Wael Abu Fanounah, a member of Islamic Jihad, was eliminated in a precision airstrike by the Southern Command, he added.
The Israeli Defense Forces accuse Abu Fanounah of being deputy head of Islamic Jihad's psychological warfare operation and of “holding various positions within the terrorist group's ranks.” He was deputy to the commander of the Islamic Jihad in the northern Gaza Strip, Khalil Bahtin.
“Abu Fanounah was responsible for releasing videos of Islamic Jihad artillery rocket attacks against Israel, as well as creating and disseminating documents about Israeli hostages as part of psychological warfare against the population,” the Israeli army says.
The war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 last year after an attack by the Islamic group that killed 1,200 people and took at least 240 hostages on Israeli territory.
Since then, Israel's military offensive in Gaza has caused more than 24,000 deaths, according to Hamas, the movement that governs the enclave.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is exacerbated by shortages of food, drinking water and fuel.
Most medical facilities have been neutralized. Poor hygiene and overcrowding led to epidemics among the civilian population.
The number of internally displaced people is approaching 2 million, with more than 1 million living mainly in the Rafah region in the south.
Around 800,000 Gazans continue to live in the north with almost no access to food or basic services, prompting the Palestinian Red Crescent to call for the creation of a “humanitarian corridor.”