JAKARTA - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claim their attack in Rafah was carried out based on intelligence and precision, killing a senior commander of the Hamas militant group, while dozens of civilians were reported killed.
The Israeli military claims its air force attacked the Hamas compound in Rafah with precision munitions and based on accurate intelligence, killing a senior Hamas official.
The IDF said the commander of Hamas' West Bank headquarters and another top official of the group were killed in the attack last night.
The West Bank headquarters is a Hamas unit tasked with launching attacks against Israel from or in the West Bank, the IDF said, quoted from The Times of Israel, May 27.
The attack took place in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood of western Rafah, where thousands of people had taken refuge after many fled the city's eastern area, where Israeli forces began a ground offensive more than two weeks ago.
Yassin Rabia, head of the West Bank headquarters, and Khaled Najjar, another senior member of the unit, were killed in the attack in the Tel Sultan area northwest of Rafah, the IDF said.
Rabia, according to the IDF, “managed the entire military ranks of West Bank headquarters, was involved in the transfer of funds for terror purposes, and directed attacks by Hamas agents” in the West Bank. The IDF also said Rabia himself carried out several deadly attacks, in 2001 and 2002, killed Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, Najjar was involved in directing shooting attacks and other terror activities in the West Bank, and was also involved in channeling funds to Hamas operations, the military said.
Najjar also carried out several attacks between 2001 and 2003, according to the IDF, killing civilians and killing and wounding soldiers.
Previously, the Palestinian Authority said dozens of civilians were killed as a result of Israeli attacks on areas it said were refugee areas that Israel previously said were safe zones.
WAFA news agency quoted local sources as reporting that at least 40 civilians were killed and others injured, mostly children and women, as a result of Israeli bombardment with at least eight missiles on refugee tents northwest of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
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The IDF said it was aware that the attack and the fires sparked by the attack resulted in civilian casualties. It was said that his party was carrying out an investigation.
"The IDF is aware of reports indicating that as a result of the attack and the fire that occurred, several civilians in the area were injured. The incident is being reviewed," the IDF said as quoted by Reuters.
Gaza officials and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the target area of the attack was a refugee camp recently established near a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warehouse northwest of Rafah.
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