In the week since Israel formally declared war on Hamas, Gaza has been pounded by airstrikes as the Israeli Defense Forces plan for a massive ground invasion.
The IDF announced that a Hamas commander was among those killed in airstrikes on Sunday, CBS News reported.
Israel bombarded 250 Hamas targets on Sunday, mostly in the northern region of Gaza, the IDF said in a statement. Among those killed in Sunday’s strikes was Muetaz Eid, the commander of the Hamas Southern District of National Security.
According to the IDF, Sunday’s airstrikes from helicopters, fighter jets, and other aircraft hit dozens of Hamas military headquarters, as well as military observation posts and rocket launching posts used by both Hamas and the other Iranian-backed Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad.
Earlier on Sunday, the IDF announced another senior Hamas commander Bilal al-Kedra was killed in an airstrike on Saturday night.
Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, a member of Israel’s newly established war cabinet, told CBS News that the Hamas leaders behind the October 7 surprise attack on Israel are likely Yahya Sinwar and El Deif.
Dermer said while they were the two people in Gaza who were responsible for the attack, they were financially and logistically supported by Iran. He said Tehran backed the attack with training, weapons, communication, and “political support.”
During a press briefing on Saturday, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht also named Sinwar as the mastermind behind the attacks, telling reporters that Sinwar is “a dead man walking and we will get to that man.”
The death toll from Hamas’ attacks has risen to more than 1,300 Israelis, 276 of whom were military personnel. Another 3,200 Israelis have been wounded.
The US State Department confirmed on Sunday that 30 Americans are among the dead in Israel while another 13 remain missing.
